Evrim Özşuca at Nardis,
October 31
Image: Nardis Jazz Club
Nardis Jazz Club (Nardis Caz Klübü)
Bereketzade Mah., Galata Kulesi Sok. No. 8, Kuledibi, Beyoğlu, 34421 İstanbul
For general info and events
+90 212 244 63 27
+90 532 244 57 78
The Nardis Jazz Club, situated in an old Genoese building in a side street close to the Galata Tower, is Istanbul’s oldest venue of its kind, having opened its doors in October 2002. Consisting of a stage, a ground floor seating area and a balcony, it has a maximum seating capacity of 120. Customers can have meals served at their tables. The club, which is named after a composition by Miles Davis, is owned by jazz musician Önder Focan and his wife Zuhal, the publisher and editor of Jazz magazine.
Jazz concerts are held every night of the week except Sunday. Seating is determined according to the order in which members of the audience arrive, 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.
Time: 21:30
Bookings are now carried out exclusively via email or by telephone:
+90 212 244 63 27
+90 532 244 57 78
The nearest metro station is the Şişhane stop on the M2 line. Take the Şişhane exit, walk down the hill to the crossroads at Şişhane and turn left along Büyük Hendek Caddesi towards the Galata Tower. Go round the right-hand side of the tower and turn right into Galata Kulesi Sokak. A short way down this street you will see the Nardis Jazz Club on your right.
If coming from the İstiklal Caddesi exit from the Şişhane stop on the M2 metro line – the exit that is close to the upper terminus of the Tünel funicular – or from the Tünel itself, walk down Galip Dede Caddesi to the Galata Tower. (Galip Dede Caddesi is the street that carries straight on where the long stretch of İstiklal Caddesi turns a corner towards the Tünel entrance.) Walk round the right-hand side of the tower and follow the instructions above.
Here are twelve concerts not to miss.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 03
Brenda Berin Band
Vocalist Brenda Berin, trained in the USA, is known for having founded the ‘Authentic Anatolian Project’ together with some of Turkey’s finest jazz musicians, with whom she produced an archive album. In 2013 she released an album entitled Sakın Ağlama (‘Please Don’t Cry’) together with world-famous drummer Dave Weckl; it featured contributions from Grammy Award-winning composer, producer, audio engineer and pedagogue George Whitty. Her single Midnite, released by Simplastique Records, was selected for inclusion in Ibiza Chillout Session Vol. 7. She has taken part in projects with many famous musicians in Turkey and elsewhere, among these being Erik Truffaz, Talvin Singh and Jean-Pierre Smadj; meanwhile, she has made a large number of recordings for films, TV series and jingles. Her repertoire is a mixture of soul, jazz, R&B and funk, and she is currently working on her first solo album.
Accompanying Brenda Berin on October 3 are Baturay Yarkın (piano), Erkan Zeki Ar (guitar), Volkan Topakoğlu (double bass) and Burak Bulut (drums).
Price: 1000 TL
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 08
Bora Çeliker Quartet: ’Tis Autumn
Guitarist Bora Çeliker, who is also a singer, is not just a highly experienced performer of mainstream jazz and blues but also a gifted improviser. At university in Ankara, he founded blues groups by the name of ‘The Crawling Snakes’, ‘The Jukes’ and ‘The King Bees’. Having played mainly blues up to that time, in 1999 he launched out into jazz, participating in a group that was headed by Janusz Szprot, a Polish musician who had come to Ankara to head up the Jazz Department of Bilkent University. Two years later, he started playing in the Alan Ginter Quartet with the legendary Turkish pianist, saxophonist and composer Tuna Ötenel. Bora Çeliker has in the past played with a number of leading Turkish jazz musicians, as well as with former Bilgi University jazz teacher Ricky Ford.
His programme at Nardis on October 8 consists of autumn-themed works, his fellow-musicians being Maya Banana (piano), Oğuz Alp Erdoğmuş (double bass) and Burak Cihangirli (drums).
Price: 1000 TL
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 09
Ceren Temel
Vocalist, songwriter and pedagogue Ceren Temel has a repertoire that encompasses a wide range of styles from bebop to modern jazz. She is noted for her improvisations, her own compositions and her original takes on jazz standards. In Berlin in 2022 she created a project entitled ‘I’m the Voice and I Can’t Be Silenced!’ together with spoken word, performance and visual artist Lady Gaby; making use of loops and vocal improvisations, it focussed on women’s rights and feminism. That year also saw the appearance of The Rewind – her first EP album, consisting of five of her own compositions. From 2019 to 2022 she taught jazz vocal at the Hacettepe University State Conservatoire in Ankara. Since 2023, she has been teaching ear training and basic musicianship at Kadir Has University, Istanbul.
On October 9 she is accompanied by Onur Yalçın (trumpet), Onat Murat (piano), Eren Kutlu (double bass) and Burak Bulut (drums).
Price: 1000 TL
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10
Meltem Ege: ‘Solitude’
Singer Meltem Ege, born in New York, began her musical career as a pianist. After relocating to Turkey with her family in 1991, she studied the piano at Bilkent University, Ankara. It was during her student years that she began singing jazz, rock, funk and R&B. Having taken part in the Dom Chemika summer school in Poland in 2006, in 2007 she was awarded first prize at the 12th Lady Summertime Jazz Vocal Competition in Hämeenlinna, Finland. The following year, she came first in the Jazz Voices competition in Lithuania.
In 2007, she began studying Jazz Vocal Performance at the Berklee College of Music in Boston; during this time, she worked with Rhiannon Giddens, Joey Blake, Bob Stoloff, Lisa Thorson and Steven Santoro. In addition, she was appointed to the role of Peer Advisor, and represented Berklee as Student Ambassador in Canada. After graduating in 2010, she carried out postgraduate studies in performance and composition at the California Institute of Arts in Los Angeles, eventually obtaining a doctorate, and it is at this institution that she has been working since 2018.
Sharing the stage with Meltem Ege on October 10 (when she both sings and plays the piano) are Şenova Ülker (trumpet), Önder Focan (guitar), Ozan Musluoğlu (double bass) and Serkan Alagök (drums).
Price: 1200TL. Garanti Bank Credit Card holders receive a 20% discount on tickets for this concert.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 12
Melis Öğüt Quartet
Melis Öğüt, a young guitarist, began taking an interest in jazz while at the German School (Alman Lisesi) in Istanbul. In November 2025, she was chosen by Gibson guitars as their official ‘young generation musician’, and in February of this year she performed at the Gibson Garage in London. Since the beginning of 2025 she has frequently appeared with the singer Kıraç. Most recently, in January this year she came first in the solo guitar category of the Jugend Musiziert (‘Young Musicians’) competition in Germany, later winning a prize in the Nardis Young Jazz Musicians competition. Accompanying her on October 12 are İlayda Hatipoğlu (piano), Barış Öztürk (double bass) and Hürşit Efe Köroğlu (drums).
Price: 1000TL
FRIDAY OCTOBER 16
Sibel Köse Quintet
The inimitable Sibel Köse, dubbed ‘the Queen of European Jazz’, is a vocalist of outstanding talent. She began singing jazz while studying Architecture at the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ), Ankara; during this time, she performed with the legendary Turkish jazz pianist, saxophonist and composer Tuna Ötenel. She says she learned a lot from him, though he never gave her formal lessons. The second influence on her artistic development was Janusz Szprot, a Polish musician who came to Ankara in the 1990s to head up the Jazz Department of Bilkent University. He invited her to attend a summer school for jazz vocalists in his native country, and she received tuition there from Deborah Brown and Rachel Gould, two singers from the USA. A third major influencer, meanwhile, has been the French trumpet-player, composer and arranger Jean-Loup Longnon; she has recently made recordings with his big band at the Studios Ferber in Paris. In addition to performing, Sibel Köse currently teaches jazz at Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul. In March this year she released an album entitled In Good Company; more recently, Özgün, an album in which she is accompanied by the guitarist and double-bass player Kamil Erdem, has appeared.
Her fellow-musicians on October 16 are Engin Recepoğulları (tenor saxophone), Kürşat Deniz (piano), Kağan Yıldız (double bass) and Ekin Cengizkan (piano).
Price: 1000TL
SATURDAY OCTOBER 17
Dilek Sert Erdoğan Band
Dilek Sert Erdoğan, known as Turkey’s most powerful soul vocalist, has a voice that is described as ‘black satin’, her style being a mixture of jazz, soul, funk, blues and improvisation. Born in 1976, she graduated in English Language and Literature from Istanbul University. During her student years she read the English news on the BBC Forex radio station, worked as Foreign News Coordinator for the ‘Kanal D’ TV channel, and prepared radio programmes for ‘Atlas’ magazine. She is also an actress. Moments, her first album (on which all the songs were written by the lady herself), was also the first original soul album in English to appear in Turkey. Released in 2013, it soon became the best-selling jazz album in the country.
Accompanying her on this occasion are Koray Üsgülen (Hammond organ), Sıtkı Sırtanadolu (guitar), Burak Atlı (bass guitar) and Berke Köymen (drums).
Price: 1000TL
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20
Engin Recepoğulları Quartet: Remembering John Coltrane
Tenor saxophonist Engin Recepoğulları, born in Izmir in 1980, decided to become a jazz musician at a young age. He began playing the saxophone in his school orchestra, and took lessons in music and improvisation from Ömer Gidel and Ricky Ford. In 2006, having performed in Claudio Fasoli and Antonio Zambrini’s ‘Open Jazz Orchestra’ at the Izmir European Jazz Festival, he was awarded a scholarship by the Izmir Culture and Arts Foundation to study in Siena, Italy, with Claudio Fasoli, Pietro Tonolo and other famous names in Italian jazz. He then relocated to Istanbul, where he began to play with important Turkish jazz musicians such as Kerem Görsev, Önder Focan, Ferit Odman, Ediz Hafızoğlu, Sarp Maden, Alp Ersönmez, Cem Tuncer, Ozan Musluoğlu, Sibel Köse, Jef Giansily, Cem Aksel, Erkan Oğur and İmer Demirer. He has also performed with many famous foreign musicians including Ricky Ford, Kurt Elling, Christian McBride, Joshua Redman, Roy Hargrove, Erik Truffaz, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Angelika Niescier and Jim Rotondi. Engin Recepoğulları is a member of Istanbul Superband, Boğaziçi Big Band and the TRT Istanbul Radio Light Music and Jazz Orchestra.
In this John Coltrane tribute concert, he shares the stage with Kürşat Deniz (piano), Alper Yılmaz (bass guitar) and Ediz Hafızoğlu (drums).
Price: 1200TL. Garanti Bank Credit Card holders receive a 20% discount on tickets for this concert.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22
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 1920s 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.
Price: 1000TL
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23
Ece Göksu
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 instruction in piano at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts 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, which enabled her to receive lessons in jazz vocal at William Paterson University in New Jersey; there, she was taught by Nancy Marano, Cecil Bridgewater, Mulgrew Miller and others, meanwhile taking private lessons from Roberta Gambarini and Jay Clayton.
Accompanying her on October 23 are Barış Doğukan Yazıcı (trumpet), Serkan Özyılmaz (piano), Kağan Yıldız (double bass) and Berke Özgümüş (drums).
Price: 1000TL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28
Şenay Ocak Quintet
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 October 28 she sings some of her own compositions, as well as jazz standards. In addition, the musicians re-interpret songs by Metallica, Deep Purple and Nirvana. Accompanying her, meanwhile, are Şenova Ülker (trumpet), Önder Focan (guitar), Can Tutuğ (vibraphone) and Berkay Sümbül (drums).
Price: 1000TL
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31
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 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 October 31 she is accompanied by Kemal Ergün (tenor saxophone), Önder Focan (guitar), Barış Öztürk (double bass) and Erhan Seçkin (drums).
Price: 1000TL
Evrim Özşuca at Nardis,
October 31
Image: Nardis Jazz Club
