About Cengiz Baysal

Cengiz started his music education in Los Angeles California at the Musicians Institute where he graduated with honors. He received his AA degree in Music at Los Angeles City College and his BA degree in music performance graduating from Berklee College of Music. (1998 Summa Cum Laude)

Some of the international festivals where he performed include; North SeaJazz(2002), Blue Note N.Y.(2002), Montreux Jazz(2003), Jazz a Vienne(2003), Ethnosur(2003), Vilnius Jazz(2005), Rocella Jazz(2006), Joe Zawinul’s Birdland Vienna(2006), Umbria Jazz(2008), Beale St. Music Festival(2008), Rock and Coke Istanbul(2009).

Artists that he has worked with include: Lee Konitz, Mark Murphy, Dave Samuels, Alan Harris, Eve Cornelius, Chip Crawford, Dena De Rose and Paula West. Notable artists that he has worked with as a sideman include : Mercan Dede (2003 European tour), Kerem Gorsev, Oguz Buyukberber,
Ayse Tutuncu, Demirhan Baylan, Tuna Otenel, Okay Temiz and Izmir Symphonic, Cemal Resit Rey Big band, Nicholas Simion, and Nguyen Le.

One collaboration that Cengiz is well known for is with the Turkish Rock band Duman. He recorded six albums with the band from 2002 to 2013 and toured from 2007 to 2016. The popularity of the band exposed him to larger audiences and he was voted as the best drummer in Turkey in 2008 by Volume Magazine’s readers poll.

Nowadays, Cengiz lives in New Jersey . You can watch him performing live with his original band Blue Garage Band, with Eldad Tarmu , PJ Parker’s quartet or Jersey Shore Jazz Quartet.