Afraid of What? by Tansu Tumer

Afraid of What? By Tansu Tumer…  I listened to about a minute of Tansu Tumers “Afraid of What?” and I had to ask myself… Who is this guy?  Contrary to most people who purchase a CD knowing very well what they are getting, I never know what to expect when I get a CD for potential review. Sometimes I am pleasantly impressed (as in this case), other times, not so much.

Let’s return to my initial question…Tansu Tumer is a self-taught bassist originally from Turkey. He relocated to Houston in 2009 to pursue his musical career and after a couple of years, he relocated to Los Angeles and is presently working the Jazz scene. “Afraid of What?” is Tansu’s debut album.

Now that we have little background we can explore some of the tracks.

“Acute perception” opens up the CD with a marked mid-eastern feel. Exotic percussion and intricate harmonic bass lines that are “tapped” set the standard for this players “Voice”. There is a pattern to the music; I found it to be enthralling as it established a “World Music” presence right off the bat.

“Embleme” is a simple bass/vocal/djembe song that you might expect to hear in one of those quiet moments in Tansu’s living room. The lyrics start in English but change language to something that sounds like French to me (I could be wrong). The song uses a kind of reggae beat with a casual feel and switches tempo.

“Euraisan Fantasy” takes us off on what I perceived as a Spanish (possibly the Moorish influence with a predominant use of Arabic scale patterns) musical tangent; Acoustic guitar intertwined with the bass

“Artificially Flavored” gives us a view of Tansu’s Funky side.

I think that Tansu has a huge potential and is very talented. On some of the cuts he might be trying a little too hard, which I understand on a debut release but if he just lets the music flow and his talent shine, he should go far!

Check this CD out!

Available on Amazon, iTunes and CD baby.