The Teatro Morlacchi, in the Italian hill town of Perugia, has the stature and complexion of a dowager queen: classically proportioned, resplendent in red and gold, with four tiers of opera boxes hugging the curved walls – still regal, only slightly faded. That’s understandable. Although it has received several facelifts and one extensive remodeling, it opened in the summer of 1781 – making it nearly 230 years old when Fahir Atakoğlu brought his trio to perform there, as part of the 2010 Umbria Jazz Festival. Contradictions abound. The Morlacchi, which stands on the site of an ancient convent, was built to host Baroque music and 19th-century opera; Atakoğlu’s music belongs firmly to the modern age, revitalizing the energetic fusion jazz of the 1970s – originally the province of electric keyboards – via the pianoforte. The Morlacchi witnessed the full flowering of European polyphony; the Turkish-born Atakoğlu comes from a musical tradition ro...