İmer Demirer at Bova, November 15
Bova Jazz Club (Bova Caz Klübü), Şehit Muhtar Mah., Mis Sok. No 17, Beyoğlu, 34435 Istanbul
Instagram: @bova_sahne bovasahne@gmail.com Website – https://bovasahne.com (permanently under construction) Tel: +90 212 243 44 61
The Bova Jazz Club is located in Mis Sokak, which leads off İstiklal Caddesi between Taksim Square and the Hüseyin Ağa Mosque at the entrance to Atıf Yılmaz Sokak (formerly ‘Sakız Ağacı Sokak’). This club regularly hosts some of Turkey’s finest jazz musicians, being especially strong on modern and improvised jazz. However, the performance space on the first floor is small, to say the least, and advance booking is definitely advised (sitting on a crowded staircase isn’t particularly comfortable). I have found the staff to be friendly and helpful, even in the face of unreasonable requests. The nearest metro station is Taksim, on the M2 line. From Taksim Square, enter İstiklal Caddesi. Once you have passed the French Consulate-General and Institut Français (the low building just past the entrance to this street, on the right), Mis Sokak will be the third side street on your right – the one after Zambak Sokak and Bekar Sokak. The Bova club is on the left-hand side of Mis Sokak, just before you get to the first crossroads.
Time: 21:30 (doors open 21:00) Tickets and prices: see Instagram account.
Monday November 3 Eggman Quartet feat. Özgü Dündar The ‘Eggman Quartet’ is the brainchild of guitarist Egemen Tosunbaş, who is also the creator of the majority of the compositions and arrangements they play; many of these are in the hard-bop and post-bop genres. Crowded Windows, their first single (produced by Volkan Öktem), appeared in 2023. Vocalist Özgü Dündar, who received her education at Eskişehir Anadolu Lisesi and the Çukurova University State Conservatoire in Mersin, has in the past been a member of several groups including ‘Longplay’, ‘Euphonia’ and ‘Babas’; she has also sung in choruses in Mersin and Adana. In 2024, she entered the Berklee College of Music. Currently, she is also receiving training in jazz vocal from Yeşim Pekiner.
Friday November 7 Ece Göksu ‘Sings the Beatles’ Ece Göksu is one of Turkey’s up-and-coming jazz vocalists. A native of Ankara, she once sang in the Ankara State Opera and Ballet Children’s Chorus. After receiving training as a pianist at the Hacettepe University State Conservatoire, in 2002 she moved to Istanbul, where she received further tuition in piano 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. Ms Göksu, who currently resides partly in New York and partly in Istanbul, 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. Her album Live in Assos, meanwhile, appeared in March 2024.
Wednesday November 12 Cenk Erdoğan Trio Cenk Erdoğan, a graduate of the Composition Department of Bilgi University (Istanbul) who plays the fretless guitar, has developed a technique that is influenced by traditional Turkish instruments such as the bağlama (a long-necked stringed instrument like a lute that is plucked rather than bowed) and the tanbur (a stringed instrument with a round body that is played with a bow). His playing style and his compositions, in which he combines jazz harmonies with traditional Turkish melodies, have attracted international attention: in 2004 he was invited to demonstrate his skills at the Berklee College of Music and the Queens College of Music. Cenk Erdoğan is also a composer and arranger: the recordings he has produced so far are İle (2008), Kavis (2011), Kara Kutu (2014), Lahza (2017), Fermata (2018) and Lahza II (2019). In addition, he has created the music for several films and TV series.
Sunday November 16 Free House: Ali Perret, Meriç Demirkol, İmer Demirer & Volkan Ergen Pianist, educator and arranger Ali Perret was responsible for training up a large number of the fine young Turkish jazz pianists we hear today while he was teaching in the Jazz Department of Bilgi University (Istanbul) – a department that he helped found. An expert both at laying down mainstream jazz and at providing musically appropriate accompaniment to free improvisations, he has a versatile aesthetic that is all his own. Mr Perret, a highly original voice in Turkish jazz, always has something interesting to say; as we heard in the ‘Clash of the Titans’ concert last year, when he conducted one of the two orchestras in a series of his own arrangements, he has a unique take on atonality. Saxophonist Meriç Demirkol is an experienced musician who is also a gifted improviser. In my blog on a concert featuring both him and trumpeter İmer Demirer at the Bova Jazz Club, I said the following: ‘As the trumpet-saxophone dialogue progressed it was Meriç, rather than İmer, who let rip, and in doing so contributed a great deal towards the success of the evening in terms of musical satisfaction. It is precisely this lack of restraint that can give improvised music, at its best, a ‘straight-from-the-heart’ quality that is extremely difficult to replicate in a scripted performance.’ As for trumpet-player İmer Demirer himself, he is a musician of such outstanding originality that the remark made by singer Randy Esen while describing how she had chosen him to play on her latest album is entirely justified: “İmer …” she said, “Man, I mean, what can I say … he was the only choice.” In my blog on a previous concert at the Bova Club, I said that ‘İmer, whose playing is invariably tasteful, was nothing less than magnificent.’ Having heard him play earlier this year in a gig celebrating the songs of Ayten Alpman (who was in fact his mother-in-law), I can vouch for the fact that his soaring creativity is undiminished. Rhythmic accompaniment to the above musicians will be provided by percussionist Volkan Ergen, another highly experienced performer.
Monday November 17 Tamer Temel 5 Saxophonist Tamer Temel, a native of Istanbul, began playing in jazz concerts while a student of Economics at Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir. In 2005, having been awarded a scholarship during that year’s European Jazz Festival, he attended the Siena Master Class summer course in Italy; later, he took part in workshops given by the famous saxophonist Mark Turner, from whom he also received private lessons. His first album, Barcelona, was released in 2010; this was followed by Bir Kedi Kara (‘A Cat Black’) in 2013. His most recent album is Serbest Düşüş (‘Free Fall’), which was recorded with an impressive list of musicians and appeared at the end of 2016. He performs with a number of Turkish musicians, as well as with ‘Flapper Swing’, a group that keeps alive the musical atmosphere of the roaring 1920s. Tamer Temel, whose style is modern (and in my opinion musically very satisfying), currently teaches jazz at Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul.
Tuesday November 18 Eylül Biçer Trio Eylül Biçer, a native of Istanbul, was introduced to the electric guitar while at Kabataş High School. Having received his first degree from the Department of Music and Performing Arts at Yıldız Technical University (Istanbul), he then carried out postgraduate studies in Sound Technology at the Bahçeşehir University Institute of Science, also in Istanbul. From 2018 to 2023 he attended the Istanbul University State Conservatoire, where he completed a doctorate thesis entitled ‘Harmonization on Jazz Guitar: A Study on a Method for Developing Harmonic Possibilities in Solo and Duo Performances’. Eylül Biçer, who is also a producer and arranger, regularly plays with some of Turkey’s finest jazz musicians.
Wednesday November 19 İmer Demirer Quartet Trumpet-player İmer Demirer is a musician of such outstanding originality that the remark made by singer Randy Esen while describing how she had chosen him to play on her latest album is entirely justified: “İmer …” she said, “Man, I mean, what can I say … he was the only choice.” In my blog on a previous concert at the Bova Jazz Club, I said that ‘İmer, whose playing is invariably tasteful, was nothing less than magnificent.’ Having heard him play earlier this year in a gig celebrating the songs of Ayten Alpman (who was in fact his mother-in-law), I can vouch for the fact that his soaring creativity is undiminished.
Friday November 21 Çağıl Kaya Vocalist Çağıl Kaya, born in Ankara, gave a large number of concerts with the TRT İzmir Chorus during her student years at Dokuz Eylül University, where she read Musicology. Subsequently, she carried out postgraduate studies in the Music Department of Istanbul University; it was during this time that she launched her professional career, performing pop, rock and funk numbers at various jazz festivals and founding ‘Logos’, her first group, in İzmir. Her first album, entitled Bir Parça Ay Biraz Kuş (‘A Bit of Moon and Some Bird’), appeared in 2014. Three years later, she produced Şimdilik Her Şey Yolunda (‘For the Moment, Everything’s Going OK’), her second album. A performer of considerable theatrical gifts (she believes in using her whole body while singing), Çağıl Kaya has a unique style of vocal improvisation.
İmer Demirer at Bova, November 15
