Band Details

From the Promoter

Born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1981, Selcuk Suna comes from a family of musicians. His father, a professor of Traditional Turkish Music at Istanbul University, and his brother, a violin player and songwriter, brought Selcuk into the music scene at a very young age. He was eight years old when he joined the children’s opera in AKM (Ataturk Cultural Centre). In addition, his parents decided to get him started on the clarinet when he was 11 in order to strengthen his lungs. The clarinet led Selcuk to the saxophone at age 17. By the time Selcuk was 18, he was performing on various television programs and for many famous pop musicians throughout Turkey. Selcuk played on a weekly late-night show for 13 years. This experience afforded him the opportunity to play on stage with well-known artists such as Shakira.
After his tenure on the late-night show he moved to Toronto. His passion for music has now become a career. With shows around the GTA and a residency at the Painted Lady Selcuk has formed a band with notable Toronto-based Jazz musicians and that band is Dokuz Sekiz.
The band combines traditional Turkish folk music with contemporary jazz, funk and soul. With all compositions re-arranged by Selcuk Suna, the band is a blend of different worlds. Todd Pentney is a notable Toronto-based pianist and a member of the Jazz group Gray Matter. Max Senitt has played with many highly acclaimed Grammy and Juno nominated artists. Eric St.Laurent is a winner of the SOCAN award for Best Original Composition at the Montreal Jazz Festival and The Best Band Award at the Vienne (France) Jazz Festival. Highly sought-after bassist Tyler Emond is a winner of the Oscar Peterson award for Excellence on bass. and bringing all of these talented musicians together, Selcuk Suna on clarinet and Saxophone. The band plans to bring their unique sound to audiences across Canada and to release an album of original music in the near future.