Jazz in Turkey - Türkiye'de Caz (Documentary)

Jazz in Turkey - Türkiye'de Caz (Documentary)

Jazz in Turkey the documentary can be summarized as a project in which I explore the condition, evolution and interaction of Turkish jazz music and its musicians, in parallel to Turkish history. The spark for this project, I suppose, were my encounters with İlhan Mimaroğlu’s late 50s book Caz Sanatı (Art of Jazz) and the slim appendix called “Summary: Jazz in Turkey” in Cüneyt Sermet’s 90s book Cazın İçinden. Afterwards, conversations with the Focan family led me to realize that despite the massive intention for research and observation regarding the topic, the project was yet an orphan. In a country with limited archives, calling the oral history-based project a daring “Turkish Jazz History” would be beyond me, so I decided to name it Jazz in Turkey instead.