Born in southeast Turkey, Gaziantep; it was in Ankara where Tansu picked up an electric bass for the first time as a 14 year old kid, and made up his mind to become a professional musician. Although the destination was clear from the beginning, the path was a long and rocky road with much sacrifice and many detours over the years...
Without any access to formal music education and lacking support from parents, he had no choice but to learn how to play the instrument by self-teaching from music books and recordings. By the time he was studying political science in university, with more sources becoming available on the internet, he was able to learn and play all the bass lines/solos in the legendary album "Jaco Pastorius" note by note in its entirety, at age 20. Graduating from university in 2009, and determined to learn the art of jazz improvisation; he moved to the USA in pursuit of a full-time endeavor in music.
After a brief stay in Nashville, he enrolled in the HCC's "jazz studies" program in Houston, Tx where he spent the following 2 years playing with the faculty members, the school's big band and its jazz ensembles. In order to tackle financial issues and pay the bills, he had to also work illegally on the side as a valet in night clubs and some other odd part time jobs outside class hours, all the while trying to get into the city's music scene. During his tenure there, he has had the chance to share the stage with some of the city's jazz greats; namely Joe LoCascio and Woody Witt and also experienced playing at the world renowned jazz club "Cezanne" with pianist Bob Henschen. Outside of the jazz scene, he not only has collaborated with many local musicians in a variety of genres that range from country to metal, but also played at prestigious venues including "House of Blues'', "The Jones Plaza" and "Warehouse Live'', as a solo artist in some cases. In addition, he has appeared in a number of concerts and festivals as a sideman, most notable of which includes appearances with Iranian pop star Shadmehr Aghili, guitar virtuoso Dani Vargas, Jimi Hendrix's drummer Marion Booker Jr and a spot at the famed SXSW festival with the Indie-Americana duo Adam&Lena... Another highlight from his time in Houston came when he was offered a scholarship to study at the historically black college "Texas Southern University"; the first instance in the school's 93 year history that was proposed to a foreigner. Unfortunately, having other goals and no time to spend 4 years learning to play double bass, he nevertheless had to move on.
Around the time he completed his studies, Tansu had released his debut album "Afraid of What?" in 2011, featuring electric bass compositions. The album got critical acclaim from several music magazines such as "Bass Musician Magazine", for the originality of the compositions and the technical level displayed on the instrument. Before heading to Los Angeles towards the end of the year, he was even approached on his Facebook page by the legendary drummer Bernard Purdie, which he still keeps the screenshot to this day!
The next step in Tansu's artistic journey was a move to Los Angeles with an aim to expand his musical vision. After surviving a 2.500km cross country drive and a dust storm on an old Chevy Cavalier with 200.000km on it, he had spent the following year hustling in the LA entertainment industry, working as a session player, teaching in a music school, playing in jazz clubs and the occasional gigs. During his California days, he has met with a number of big name jazz musicians such as Scott Henderson, Alphonso Johnson, Ben Williams and has had the chance to play on stage with electric bass legend Andrew Gouche himself. He was also a member of the funk rock band Katerpillar where they have appeared in several shows, including the Ponderosa festival. At the end of 2012, having no time left on his visa, Tansu had no other choice but to return back to his native country, Turkey.
The absence of a music industry there to speak of, combined with the incurring financial difficulties, left him no other choice than to hang his guitar and start working in soul-sucking jobs for several years, during which he kept writing new music in the little shades of time that was available, and his attempts to form an ensemble to play them live were constantly hampered by key members leaving the town. Finally in early 2019, having saved enough money over the years, he started pouring all his energy and time on producing his own music full time. Later that year, he and his wife decided to move to a small Aegean town where he now leads a busy life working as a full time composer, music producer, sound designer while simultaneously releasing his own recordings whether it's a symphonic album such as Euemeria, a bass guitar/fusion track like Zoroaster or an electronic music experiment as in Xperimentia Asia. The evolution in his music and the experience he has gained over the years as a composer/producer would be most evident in his upcoming album, scheduled for June 1, 2023.