Murat Ulus is the only representative of the 1950s generation among musicians who have worked to improve and popularize jazz music in Ankara. The previous forefathers who have done so were newcomers to the city. His life, on the other hand, started, shaped and currently continues in Ankara. Everything started with him picking up the Spanish guitar at the age of 12 in 1964.
What path did your music adventure follow?
I used to sing, my fingers would never stop moving, I would drum with them and keep time. I had such a relationship with music, so I must have loved it. I would sit in the garden and make up sounds. Girls would gather; I realized they were interested, these girls, so I became more interested myself. But when you don’t know the chords or melodies, then there aren’t enough notes, well, you don’t know to read them anyways, you can only find the lyrics for songs in music magazines, whatever they choose to publish. We started to learn A minor, C minor, C majör etc. slowly with the guitar from friends, acquaintances, our elders who played. It was always playing by the ear; going to see a concert to see how someone presses A minor and such things. I started to play in places like Demirlibahçe Local with duos I founded in a year. High shcools would have tea parties back then, and we would go play a day a week there for free, of course, all excited to play about three pieces. There were many orchestras back then, a lot of duos and trios. We would all play a couple of rock’n’roll pieces or whatever was popular those days. I founded by first band in 1967 called “Bluebirds”, three guitars and drums. I started playing the bass then. We played at high schools with the same band. There were school concerts in places like our Deneme High School, Cumhuriyet High School, Yükseliş High School, Kurtuluş High School etc. We would play in those. We went to a place outside Ankara once; Akçaabat. One of our friend’s uncle had had a family tea garden in the shoreline; it was four sticks holding up a cloth canopy, with a cement floor which would become the stage. The drums didn’t have proper drumhead, we would put a lamp inside a drum with animal skin, we would light it up before the performance so it would tighten the skin and play like that. We did all that. There was a song called “Bala bala”. The guys from Trabzon were apparently swearing behind our backs saying “Bala bala bala bala, these kids know nothing else”. Those were the things we had to put up with.
How did your Professional music life start?
We started to play at wedding halls in 66-67. I performed at a couple of pavillions. One of them was named Kitkat, for example, I will never forget about it. It was in Ulus. There weren’t many places to play in Ankara back then. There were a couple of hotels, that’s why musicians would play in such bars. Balarısı Özdemir had a brother, he took me to Kitkat. He played the drums and did it well, I learnt bossa nova, blues, swing etc. all from him. He would play dancing music for belly dancers, but also played other genres on the side. They also played Latin music. Pavillions were like schools back then. I would sing in addition to playing the guitar; rock’n’roll was pretty new back then and they weren’t playing it. Accordeon, clarinet, double bass sometimes. No guitars, a saxophone, a trumpet; that was what the orchestra was like. We would be really popular when we brought the guitar and sang a couple of rock’n’roll pieces.
You must be active in different genres as it was the era when Rock’n’roll was popular?
Milliyet Newspaper organized music competitions back then. Us four friends from Bahçelievler Deneme High School entered the High School Music competition in 1967. We played The Beatles; “Help”, “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” for example. I remember what we played; we also did Rolling Stones’s “Lady Jane”. We didn’t make it to the final that year. We were upset at that in the year 1968 and had an attitude about it; Hurşit Yenigün, myself, Ertan Talu and Cemal Tuncer founded a new band and named it “Aristokrat 4”. We started to perform at Köşk Casino, Bulvar Palas and Ankara Palas. But with proper clothing. We would cut out pictures of Beatles from magazines, like Hey Magazine, and take it to the seamstress to replicate them. There was a shoe maker called Avni in the American Passage; we would take pictures of what shoes or boots the Beatles wore and ask him to make the same. He would say “How am I supposed to make these” but we would go on our merry way of looking as dapper as The Beatles and become a serious orchestra. Hurşit knew how to read notes to a small extent. He would make us practice, the band’s music director was Hurşit Yenigün. We came the first place in Ankara Amateur Orchestras competition in 1969. Newspapers, magazines, photos; we became rather famous. I was in high school back then. Erkal Zenger said “Let me be your manager, I will sell your music well”. He really did become our manager. We started to perform at Golf Clubs, Marmara Hotel, openings of new venues etc. with this band. But we would always look chic, really really chic and we would work really hard. How would we work then, there are no notes, nothing written. We would g oto a movie, for example, there was a movie called “To Sir With Love” back then by Sidney Poitier, I will always remember that movie. There was a song Lulu sang in it called “To Sir With Love”. How will we transcribe it? We would bring a battery powered tape player, we would record it as we watched the movie, bring it back home and wrote down the lyrics as well as we can with our broken English back in those days. Hurşit would write down the chords, we would listen like 28 times and then repeat it like monkeys. We had the opportunity to share the same stage with Orhan Sezener Air Forces and Jazz Orchestra in 67-69 in Büyük Sinema and Atatürk High School. They were playing in the finals and us a handful of amateur were the opening band. They were fully professional, working with sheet music and playing big band music. That’s when jazz started to sound alluring.
Aristokrat 4 (Photo: Murat Ulus Archive)
That is how you got acquaintanced with jazz, and then what happened next?
I started to play with Ayhan Tangör’s band in 69. We started to play as extras at Marmara Hotel and in radio recordings, it was a great band as well. They were more knowledgeable and better musicians. We started play in live emissions. If I am remembering correctly, Erol Pekcan had a house in Çevre Street back then, they would gather us there and listen to LPs together. For example, they would pick a song and then play a different version of the same piece played by a different musician after it. Then a third version after that, and so on. Listening to many versions of these pieces broadened our horizons.
Did you meet Erol Pekcan at the radio?
Now where did I meet him, might be at the radio. We probably followed him around. Erol Pekcan was performing at Ankara Hotel in the 1970s. He worked with Selçuk Sun, Nejat Cendeli, Corradi and Pepe. But those musicians were too accomplished for our level back then. Very very accomplished, we were not anywhere close. The last one was Tuna, Kudret Öztoprak Trio. I was very close to them. For example, I would substitute when Kudret was off. I would play with Erol Pekcan whenever Kudret took 2 days, 5 days, a week, 10 days or yearly leave.
We are in the 70s; what happened in those years?
I met Metin Gürel. I would play with Özgür Güner (guitar) and Necdet Ulusoy (drums). They said Metin Gürel returned to Turkey and will form an orchestra. He used to live in Germany, and would travel back and forth those days. He stayed in Turkey for three year and we met one another then. They were invited because they worked with him before. He came to the club we were playing at and listened to the band. He invited three of us, Necdet, myself and Özgür to his band. He is a valuable jazz musicians, invaluable. It is a great honor to play with him. I played at Balin Hotel and Gar Casino with him. We would play such pieces as “Corcovado” and “The Man I Love”. American jazz singers, “Ipanemas” and similar. Metin Gürel has a different way of writing arrangements for some pieces, especially classical Western ones. Different, beautiful, very hard arrangements; he would work very hard, rehearsal after rehearsal.
1972 Metin Gürel Orkestrası, Gar Gazinosu (Photo: Murat Ulus Archive)
That is how you got acquaintanced with jazz, and then what happened next?
I started to play with Ayhan Tangör’s band in 69. We started to play as extras at Marmara Hotel and in radio recordings, it was a great band as well. They were more knowledgeable and better musicians. We started play in live emissions. If I am remembering correctly, Erol Pekcan had a house in Çevre Street back then, they would gather us there and listen to LPs together. For example, they would pick a song and then play a different version of the same piece played by a different musician after it. Then a third version after that, and so on. Listening to many versions of these pieces broadened our horizons.
Did you meet Erol Pekcan at the radio?
Now where did I meet him, might be at the radio. We probably followed him around. Erol Pekcan was performing at Ankara Hotel in the 1970s. He worked with Selçuk Sun, Nejat Cendeli, Corradi and Pepe. But those musicians were too accomplished for our level back then. Very very accomplished, we were not anywhere close. The last one was Tuna, Kudret Öztoprak Trio. I was very close to them. For example, I would substitute when Kudret was off. I would play with Erol Pekcan whenever Kudret took 2 days, 5 days, a week, 10 days or yearly leave.
We are in the 70s; what happened in those years?
I met Metin Gürel. I would play with Özgür Güner (guitar) and Necdet Ulusoy (drums). They said Metin Gürel returned to Turkey and will form an orchestra. He used to live in Germany, and would travel back and forth those days. He stayed in Turkey for three year and we met one another then. They were invited because they worked with him before. He came to the club we were playing at and listened to the band. He invited three of us, Necdet, myself and Özgür to his band. He is a valuable jazz musicians, invaluable. It is a great honor to play with him. I played at Balin Hotel and Gar Casino with him. We would play such pieces as “Corcovado” and “The Man I Love”. American jazz singers, “Ipanemas” and similar. Metin Gürel has a different way of writing arrangements for some pieces, especially classical Western ones. Different, beautiful, very hard arrangements; he would work very hard, rehearsal after rehearsal.
What was the system like in Scandinavia? Did you have a manager or did Turhan Eteke or Emin Fındıkoğlu find jobs via their personal connections, for example?
The manager system works everywhere in Europe. The manager sends a new contract 5-10 days to the end of the previous one. You cannot find a job without one there. There was the copyrights system and I was very surprised about it. It was founded there in the 70s. You would note down which pieces you play, for examples The Beatles, and you would take that list to the copyright agency every month. I play this one day, that the other day. You pay down to the single krone on those copyright fees. That’s when I realized that most orchestras play their own pieces. They didn’t play other musicians’ pieces.
Murat Ulus (Photo: Ceyhun Güneş)
When did you return to Turkey?
I came back at the end of 75. Erol Pekcan was the go-to person in Ankara. It was a couple days to new year when I arrived, I went to Erol Pekcan at the hotel right away. I told him I was back. Aşkın left us in Sweden and I will find a pianist and go. My goal was to return to Turhan Eteke Orchestra. I was supposed to look for a pianist. He said “I have a favor to ask you, since you will be here for a couple of days. Can you go to Pepe in Altınnal for 10-15 days, he keeps arguing with his bassist. Please play with Pepe for a bit and we will sort the rest out”. I said okay and went to Altınnal on Cinnah Street. I started the next day. Anny Berrier was the singer, Pepe’s wife, Metin Hamurabi (drums), Pepe. We played standard American jazz songs, but Pepe played mainly Latin. He was knowledgeable on Latin music. I played there for quite a bit. I have live recordings on radio and TV with Pepe.
Those who have witnessed those times, at the end of the 70s, always talk about Altınnal and the music there with praise. Those were different times. I think that era ended in the 80s. I think we are talking about those times now?
I got married in 1980. I was done with school. I did my masters on business and I started at Ereğli Demir Çelik factory as a sales representative. My music career was done between 1980-83.
Why did you feel the need for a change as you were involved in music for so many years?
Because music started to become unstable. For example, I bought a car while working with Pepe in 76. I was performing at Altınnal, I would leave at 12:00 and would play at a different club. I played two gigs and earned a lot of money. The 6-7 day jobs started to dwindle. It started to become unstable. That’s when Turkish pop started to get popular. I didn’t think I could take care of my family by making music and that’s why the change happened.
When did you start playing again?
I started to play with Tuna in 1983. The first concerts took place at Turkish American Foundation in 83 and featured Tamer Sağlam (drums), Tuna Ötenel, Nükhet Aruca and late Özer Ünal. Following that, the first jazz club in Ankara, ‘Oda Caz Kulüp’, opened in 1985. It used to be the old Artı club. Three partners from the American foundation opened that club. Elvan Arıcı, trombone player, was in Sweden. We sent him a plane ticket, those were different times—think about it, we were sending him a plane ticket from here. He picked up his trombone and flew from Sweden to Turkey. Nükhet Aruca came over. Tuna, Tamer—five of us started out like that. I still played the bass guitar back then. ‘Gece Bar’ opened on Arjantin Street in 1986. I bought the double bass I am still using now from Torgul that year. I was trying out things on my own again, I had to teacher. I learnt a lot by watching to video recordings. Parliament Superbands were coming to Ankara 1989. They came consecutively for a couple of years. I met Herb Ellis and Ray Brown. I bought the pickups I still use from Ray Brown. Erol Pekcan took these musicians over to ‘Gece Bar’ have a jam session after their concert. It was Tuna, Tamer and myself. We saw about 10-12 people at the door with cases in their hands. Everybody brought their own wind instruments. We were playing. Then first listened and judged whether to play with us; of course they didn’t know who we were. They all came over after listening to one piece. They opened their cases; one was putting the reed on his trombone, the other was playing his trumpet next to me. It was an incredible evening, we had a jam session with them and they were amazing.
Then there is the Etap Hotel era before the 80s ended, right?
Pepe, Doğan Canku and I played as three guitars during the opening ceremony of Etap in 1986. I played the guitar there. That was the first time I had played the guitar for a long time. Then we started to play there as Durul Gence and Friends which featured Haşim Yedican and Ümit Eroğlu as well. Los Machucambos came to perform there and we played with them. Durul and I were slowly focusing on jazz pieces and we played some of Durul’s arrangements of known popular pieces in Turkish, like Anatolian pop pieces.
Janusz Szprot & Murat Ulus (Photo: Ceyhun Güneş)
When did Los Machucambos come to Etap?
In 1986. The majority of my double bass history happened with them. I practiced with the most famous vocal band in the World; it wasn’t easy at all. They stayed for two months. We played every evening. I practiced for two months. I have some recordings from that era, you wouldn’t believe the sound of the double bass. I played with Durul and Pepe, Metin Hamurabi at Etap between 85-87. My daughter Zeynep was 3-4 years old. Internationak Ankara Jazz and Pop Days was organized in 87. That was the first concert of Ankara Jazz Festival. It took place at CSO. A lot of foreign musicians played and we performed with Durul Gence and Friends.
What happened in the 90s?
Janusz (Szprot) came to Turkey in 91. We had some concerts with him at the American Culture Foundation. Tomasz Szukalski was also there. I had a heart attack in 91 and had an operation in 92. I stayed away from music for a year as I recuperated. Ankara Pop Band and Jazz Orchestra was founded in 1994 within the dramework of Ministry of Culture, directed by Ümit Eroğlu. It mainly featured opera artists. I was one of the few who was invited into this formation from the outside. Sibel Köse, Yahya Dai and myself. It was a big band. We gave concerts. I recorded with Tuna Ötenel in 94 for this album “Sometimes”.
In the meanwhile, Architects Foundation featured live jazz between 94-98, right?
I played with Tuna for 10 years in that period. We played at the Architects for many years with Sibel, Yahya and Tuna. Sibel and I shared so much about jazz.
There are some recordings of our performances from the Artictects Foundation.
I also saw the newspaper announcement. You, me, Tuna—we played under the name of jazz evenings. In 2004 at Siyah & Beyaz. I learnt so much about jazz during those ten years I played with masterful musician Tuna Ötenel, I accumulated so much knowledge.
Did you continue working at Ereğli Demir Çelik in the meanwhile?
Yes, of course. I was promoted and became the Ankara area manager. I retired in 2003 June. I solely focused on music after that. I played with Janusz for 14 years between 2005-2019. That was my longest accompanyment. We played at X-ir, Ruh Bey and such. Cem Aksel, Emre Kartarı played the drums. Dolce jazz band founded by Meltem Ege, Merih Çalışan and Merve Erdal were featured as soloists. I played with Durul again in the meanwhile. As Durul Gence 4, Durul Gence 4+1. We performed at Samm’s Hotel between 2012-2020. Samm’s Hotel Bistro was Saba Akman’s venue. We formed a great trio with Serkan Alagök who played the drums interchangibly with Burak Durman, myself and Janusz. All of the jazz musicians of Turkey, came to play on the weekends between 2012-2020. We played jazz and had a great time together. Janusz passed away in the July of 2019. Ümit Eroğlu and Rustam Rahmedov, a pianist from Turkmenistan, were included in the band. We performed until 2020 March. Now it has stopped due to the pandemic. How long has it been? 50 years without even noticing.
Murat Ulus (Photo: Ceyhun Güneş)
Do you have anything that you wish you could have done more with music?
Not really. I am glad I didn’t make a living out of music. Because the path I followed was better, otherwise I would have struggled a lot. For example, I could have been forced to play Turkish pop. I might not be able to afford a good education for my daughter. I chose the right path for myself, it took me slightly away from music but I was able to do other things with ease. I was able to meet other responsibilities, that is my consolidation. I never aimed to be the best bassist in Turkey. It wouldn’t be possible in this situation anyways. There are 3-4 great bassists in Istanbul. They are all conservatoire graduates. They play great anda re great people. The same applies to drummers. Pianists are great musicians. That is enough for us.
You have different hobbies such as being a captain and pilot as far as I know. These are very complex subjects and require knowing different coding systems. Keeping in mind that playing the bass is a different way of deciphering and solving codes, can we call Murat Ulus as a “decipherer”?
You make me blush. These are all, especially sailing, flying, musicianship, about discipline. Sailing and flying require the utmost discipline. One needs to practice with a lot of discipline if they want to become a musician. Discipline is required to achieve something. I never saw myself fully as a musician. I didn’t leave Ankara because I was working for a company. They call me the sentinel bassist of Ankara. Because all of the bassists left here. Selçuk went, so did Kâmil. I am the only one who remains. I didn’t due to my job. I wasn’t too disciplined about music naturally due to the workload of my job and the responsibilities etc. I did my job and focused on music on the other hand, this way or another. I didn’t have any education as far as instruments go. I am self-taught. I learnt to play the drums, piano and trombone; I learnt how to play these instruments by myself. I learnt as much as one can by themselves. I am a musician as much as my talent allows me. I read an article on Erol Pekcan the other day, which said “Erol Pekcan wasn’t only a musician who played his instrument well but he was like a brother with his personality traits; he was a guide”. It talked about his other hobbies. Erol Pekcan possibly was a role model for us too. I always tried to be a guide and role model all my life. This is My Way…
