Longtime NYC-based Swedish-Turkish saxophonist Ilhan Ersahin's home stage is the club he opened on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 2002, Nublu. It's where many of his most fruitful collaborations were conceived and other projects, from Brazilian Girls to Wax Poetic, had their start. Ersahin’s style is rooted in jazz and world music, and his Istanbul Sessions—which include Alp Ersonmez on bass, Izzet Kizil on percussion, and drummer Turgut Alp Bekoglu—are “a combination of Ilhan’s NYC/Nublu sound mixed with the sounds and spirits of young Istanbul.” Turkish scales, ambient beats, thumping percussives, jazz improv, and Ersahin’s sax notes generally setting a haunting mood. by Leilani Polk