Jazz concerts are held every night except Sunday. The music starts at 21:30. Seating is is on a first-come-first-served basis, starting at 20:30. Reservations are kept until 21:15 (i.e., 15 minutes before the music starts). Tables for two are limited. All other tables are shared. Bookings by email (focan@nardisjazz.com) or telephone: +90 (212) 244 63 27,or WhatsApp +90 532 244 5778
Price: 800TL
John Shakespeare Dyson, Cornucopia's music critic, picks his highlights this month.
Monday, March 9
Adem Gülşen Quartet
Pianist, composer and arranger Adem Gülşen, a native of İzmir, graduated from Kocaeli University as a classical pianist, subsequently taking private lessons in jazz piano from the late Elvan Aracı (a trombone-player of note) and in modern harmony and improvisation from the genius jazz pianist and composer Aydın Esen. Since 2011 he has worked with a huge number of Turkish jazz musicians, and has played on 12 albums and 7 singles. His style is modern, with a strong element of improvisation. On March 9 he will be accompanied by Barış Arslan (guitar), Apostolos Sideris (double bass) and Efe Oğur (drums).
Tuesday, March 10
Kaan Bıyıkoğlu Trio
Kaan Bıyıkoğlu’s musical career began in Ankara, where he studied the piano with Prof. Semra Kartal at the Middle East Technical University, meanwhile performing with the legendary pianist, saxophonist, composer and pedagogue Tuna Ötenel, Bulgarian singer Yıldız Ibrahimova, saxophonist Yahya Dai and the late double-bass player Kürşat And (1964-2013). He then attended the Başkent University State Conservatoire, where he received further tuition in classical piano from Mehmet Okonşar. In 2006 he moved to the Netherlands to study jazz piano, harmony, composition and orchestration at the Rotterdam Conservatoire. Having taken part in various festivals, concerts, radio and TV programmes and recording sessions in Holland, Belgium and Germany, in 2013 he returned to Turkey, where for a time he taught piano and harmony in the Jazz Department of Hacettepe University, Ankara. He is currently preparing for a doctorate at MİAM, the Dr. Erol Üçer Centre for Advanced Studies in Music at Istanbul Technical University. On March 10 he will be playing a mixture of his own compositions, arrangements of pieces by Béla Bartók, free improvisations and modern jazz standards together with Ozan Musluoğlu (double bass) and Burak Bulut (drums).
Monday March 16
Şenay Ocak: ‘Rock Swings’ feat. Şenova Ülker
Vocalist Şenay Ocak studied jazz at Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, subsequently taking part in projects with the Academic Symphony Orchestra at Hacettepe University, Ankara. She is currently carrying out research into jazz at the Musicology Department of the Istanbul State Conservatoire. On March 16 she will be performing jazz arrangements of songs by groups such as Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Bon Jovi, Nirvana, Oasis, Scorpions, Guns N’Roses and Metallica. Accompanying her, meanwhile, will be Şenova Ülker (trumpet), Koray Üsgülen (Hammond organ and piano), Can Tutuğ (vibraphone), Eylül Güntekin (double bass) and Nihal Saruhanlı (drums).
Trumpet-player Şenova Ülker trained in classical trumpet at the Ankara State Conservatoire and at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatoire in Istanbul. For fifteen years, he taught his chosen instrument at the Istanbul University and Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatoires. His career in jazz began in 1977, when he began taking lessons in jazz theory from the multi-talented jazz musician and musical arranger Emin Fındıkoğlu. Since 2013 he has been teaching jazz trumpet at Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul.
Thursday, March 19
Evrim Özşuca Band
Evrim Özşuca took her first steps towards a career as a musician at Bilkent University, Ankara, where she began studying the cello at the age of 13. Having formed her first jazz group at 17, she attended the Music Department of Bilgi University, Istanbul, graduating as a jazz vocalist. In 2005, she won the Nardis Jazz Club’s Young Jazz Vocalists’ Competition and the International Young Jazz Vocalists’ Competition at the Nomme Jazz Festival in Estonia. As a result, she was invited to sing at festivals in Finland, Estonia and Lithuania. Following this, she gave concerts together with trumpeter Ted Curson in New York and Paris, performing on his album *In Paris – Live at the Sunside*. She then took part in pianist, composer and pedagogue Ali Perret’s ‘Atonal Standards’ project. Evrim Özşuca is a versatile performer, combining blues, R&B, soul and funk; for the last 22 years she has also been teaching jazz vocal. In 2009 she founded a group by the name of ‘Effective’, and has been performing with them since then. On this occasion, she is accompanied by Kaan Karadavut (trumpet), Önder Focan (guitar), Barış Öztürk (double bass) and Erhan Seçkin (drums).
Saturday March 21
Ece Göksu Quintet
Ece Göksu is one of Turkey’s up-and-coming jazz vocalists. A native of Ankara, she sang in the Ankara State Opera and Ballet Children’s Chorus. After training as a pianist at the Hacettepe University State Conservatoire, in 2002 she moved to Istanbul, where she received further tuition in piano-playing at the Mimar Sinan University State Conservatoire. It was while at university in Ankara that she began to take an interest in jazz, and formed her first group. In 2007, she won a Fulbright Scholarship to receive instruction as a jazz vocalist at William Paterson University in New Jersey, where she was taught by Nancy Marano, Cecil Bridgewater, Mulgrew Miller and others, meanwhile taking private lessons from Roberta Gambarini and Jay Clayton. Ece Göksu divides her time between New York and Istanbul. She has taken part in festivals in the United States, Budapest and Dubai as well as in Turkey. In 2014 Slow, Hot Wind, an album of jazz classics featuring her along with Neşet Ruacan and Volkan Hürsever, was released. Live in Assos, meanwhile, appeared in 2024; it featured trumpet-player İmer Demirer and guitarist Eylül Biçer. Accompanying her on March 21 are Bulut Gülen (trombone), Serkan Özyılmaz (piano), Kağan Yıldız (double bass) and Berke Özgümüş (drums).
Tuesday, March 24
Flapper Swing
Flapper Swing is a ‘manouche’ (i.e., gypsy jazz) group in the tradition of the Belgian-Romani jazz guitarist Jean ‘Django’ Reinhardt (1910–53) and the American saxophonist, clarinettist and composer Sidney Bechet (1897–1959). It keeps alive the musical atmosphere of the roaring 1920s – ‘the times when jazz was still fun’. The group has five members: Nevin Hetmanek on vocals, Batu Şallıel on saxophone, Erhan Erbelger and Tomas Hetmanek on guitars, and Volkan Topakoğlu on double bass. (I believe Tomas Hetmanek hails from the Czech Republic.) They appear on stage in '20s costume, but the audience is at liberty to dress as they will. I have fond memories of the times when Flapper Swing played in the street – at the Tünel end of İstiklal Caddesi. I always admired their blend of musical professionalism and good humour.
Bova Jazz Club
