LOCAL JAZZ HEROES
Ozan Musluoğlu is a jazz double bass player, bassist and composer. He was born in Germany in 1977. His grandmother discovered his interest for music and supported it. She gifted him a bass guitar when he was 16 years old. This was the start of Musluoğlu’s music adventure. As far as I know, Ozan lives his life on the edge and his music is no different. He is interested in everything around him. For example, can a jazz musician drive a motorbike? He can. If we are talking about Ozan Musluoğlu that is… I was surprised to see him holding a helmet when he came to the studio. He likes to ride the motorbike; he actually doesn’t like to waste time, you will also understand this when we list his works. He keeps trying to run in different directions and to keep producing. He follows different genres of music; “I respect and listen to everything that people put effort into, and like doing so” he says.
He has recorded five albums so far. His first two albums consist of his own compositions. 12 of the most important Turkish jazz pianists contributed to his third album “My Best Friends Are Pianists”. With Ferit Odman on the drums, they enter 12 different worlds. He recorded “My Best Friends Are Vocalists” when this album received attention. This album was more like a meeting of friends, twenty eight musicians took part in its realisation. Released by Sony in 2015, this album was picked as ‘The Best Jazz Album of the Year’ in iTunes. He finished recording his fifth album, we are excitedly waiting for it. He says that it will be released in 2017. He is also making plans to record a new album with Su İdil from the younger generation.
During this session of my “Bizim Cazcılar” program in NTV Radio, Ozan Musluoğlu played “You Must Forget Sometimes” from his first album Coincidence, “Requiem For K.C. ” which he wrote for his grandmother from his second album 40th Day, “Agoni” which is the opening piece of his My Best Friends Are Pianists album and the closing piece of My Best Friends Are Vocalists, “Blues For Ayşe”. You can listen to one of these pieces while reading this interview.
Let’s embark on Ozan Musluoğlu’s journey…
Ozan Musluoğlu (Photo: Candaş Arın)
“My Grandmother Bought Me My First Bass Guitar”
I loved rock music when I was a kid. One of my favourite bands was Iron Maiden. The reason I started to play the bass was Iron Maiden’s bass guitarist Steve Harris. I was a big fan of his.
Of course, there wasn’t internet or music programs on every channel back then. That’s why it was very important for me to see their video clip on that music program that was broadcasted once a week. I sometimes felt like I was waiting for that program the whole week. Of course, as I grew up I was drawn to that instrument. I made myself instruments similar to a bass guitar back then when I was listening to Iron Maiden’s music. I would imagine myself playing the bass guitar and I had zero interest in any other instrument. I started to listen to other genres as I got older. My late grandmother noticed my interest in the 1990s, and took me to dear İlhan Börekçi’s music store in Kadıköy and bought me a bass guitar, that’s how this adventure started. If she hadn’t bought me that guitar, I might not be making anything related to music right now.
“And The Adventure Begins”
There weren’t many people or places that gave an education on bass guitar back then. Unfortunately, there was no internet, either. You couldn’t find the methods. Again, dear İlhan Börekçi gave me the phone number of someone called Mehmet Burak Alapan. We set a date for the first lesson that Sunday. I took my bass guitar and went to his house. The person who answered the door had a broken arm. Of course I was surprised when I saw this and thought I was in the wrong place. Then I realised he had an accident that evening and had broken his arm.
Our lessons started with a 3-4 weeks of delay. We did what we could through lectures and listening to music, without actually playing anything. We had a good tempo for 4-5 months. I learnt everything about how to play the instrument, what to play and all the beginning level knowledge from him.
Then I started working by myself. You listen to music, you get curious, you try to play it. I started to get better at playing.
My parents were separated. My father didn’t want me to become too involved with music back then.
That’s why I didn’t receive much support. But my grandmother always had my back. She always supported me with my endeavours with the bass guitar. May she rest in peace, she was an amazing person. Then I got into the school orchestra in high school and entered competitions with them. I was the bass guitarist of the school band. I started to play with various different bands and this went on. The music I used to play changed, the bands changed, they increased in number and I kept playing the bass guitar until the 2000s.
Ozan Musluoğlu (Photo: Candaş Arın)
“The Best Period—A Rock Star In The High School!”
The members of the school bands and high school groups might be seen as the rock stars of the school. The band’s concerts were great/ The competitions were really fun. It was the best time period. I have many good memories related to it. My adventure with the bass guitar went on until the 2000s.
“Change and University…”
I had the mandatory military service problem in 2000, I was already a little bit bored with the music I was playing and had started to think about doing something else. I thought doing my military service in that period might help me gather my thoughts. I went and got my request in by myself. Because I was studying in an open plan school and didn’t see myself finishing the 4-years Public Administration course. I wanted to get my military service done and out of the way, but I also entered the entrance exams of all the music schools in order not to have any regrets during my time in the military. My first choice was Bilgi University. Its entrance exam went very well. My life changed when I got the scholarship. A new page opened. I delayed the military service for about 7 years. The first year I was in the prep class and had a year filled with practicing English. After that prep year, I started to get academic education on music in 2001. When I realised there was a double bass department, I went to the department head and said “I got my scholarship with bass guitar but I want to learn the double bass. Can I change departments?” Dear Ali Perret was the department head back then.
He replied “Of course, why not” and my adventure with the double bass started that year. People’s preferences change. You can start to like different things as you grow up and I am glad I made that choice. I studied with Volkan Hürsever for the first two years in Bilgi University. Then I had classes with an American double bass player on my third year. The curriculum didn’t have double bass lessons on the fourth year, but I went to late Kürşat And’s classes as a guest. I audited all his classes I was able to catch and had a great 7 years.
“Athena Was Like A Family”
I played with Athena for about 4 years. This happened when I was in the university. I participated in many festivals, concerts and tours with Athena between 2003 and 2007. It was a great period, we have great memories together. We did many concerts, tours, album records, TV shows and Eurovision until I went to the military. You become a family and start passing most of your time together. We have many great memories. I remember those 4 years as being fun. We have great video clips. Gökhan (Özoğuz) was a guest in my last album, many thanks to him. I starred in the video clip of that piece when I first entered the band. For some reason, we never played that piece during the concerts but it was one of my favourites. I thought, I will definitely do something with this piece some day. It was meant to be in 2015. Gökhan was one of the vocalists in My Best Friends Are Vocalists. We played the Athena piece called ‘Orada bir An’ together. These are incredible memories for me. Now everyone is doing something different. They continue to make their own music. I am involved in my own music and albums.
Ozan Musluoğlu (Photo: Candaş Arın)
“I Am Always A Double Bass Devotee”
Music is an ocean… One never stops learning. There were musicians who influenced me in those periods, I also had the chance to work with some. I tried to learn from double bass players like Robert Balzar, Dominique Lemerle, Marc Johnson, Dwayne Burno whenever I could. I had the chance to learn many things from people whose workshops I participated in. These were very beneficial for me. Because you are trying to learn an instrument, one with physical challenges as well.
I didn’t have a conservatory background. I was in a situation to fill that gap in an expedited way. I worked with Arda Agoşyan for a period when I got back from the military. He is an incredible double bass player and a great teacher. I tried to adapt the classical methods he showed to my double bass playing. I saw myself a serious devotee, a worker almost, of the double bass. The only thing you have to do as long as you live is to keep playing. You actually live to be able to play this instrument, and you get involved in something you enjoy as a hobby and keep on living. I actually think we are very lucky and I am always thankful. As they always say “I play as good as the last piece I played.” This is very true. I really like this saying, you have to keep on improving yourself.
There are many listeners who get in touch through social media, or during concerts. I receive really great feedback. I try to answer everyone’s questions. I have a radio program on TRT Radyo 3 every Friday evening at 19:00. There are listeners from all over Turkey and this makes me really happy. It feels great when I hear people say “I listen to you on the radio” during the concerts. I think of this as my hobby. I am definitely not a radio persona. They asked me “Would you like to make such a jazz program?” because I play with TRT Big Band, and I replied “ Of course, I would like to try.” That was back in 2009. It is still going on. I have different guests every week and we enter their worlds. The name of the program is “Jazz Saati” (meaning “Jazz Hour”). During that hour, we listen to my guests’ albums or recordings, if they have any, or the music and albums they like and converse.
“I Am A Fan of John Coltrane”
There actually could be a good relationship between jazz and society. It is a genre that the Turkish people could grow to love. I think there is an unnecessary prejudice about it. It has such a broad variety. There are pieces I really don’t enjoy listening to that belong to jazz as a genre, and then there are ones I love. The audience should find the kind of jazz they like and pursue it, and research into those kind of albums and recordings. This could be an instrument, or a vocalist. The rest naturally follows. For example, if you like listening to saxophone, your path will surely cross John Coltrane’s at some point. Then your attention might be drawn to another saxophone player in that period while listening to Coltrane or you end up listening to a trumpet player. What’s important is to find out what you enjoy. I love Coltrane’s albums. I especially love his acoustic piano trios.
“Mesele Jazz’ı Keşfetmek”
I think the Turkish listeners would love jazz. I produced dear Kenan Doğulu’s latest album ‘İhtimaller’. The album process took a year. There are different interpretations of Kenan’s compositions in the album. There is also an addition of a new song among those. I think this is an important album for Turkish jazz. There is such an unnecessary prejudice.
For example, I have such an experience: I was in a store that sold TV and music systems. I wanted to try out a system that works via Bluetooth. The salesperson told me “You can play your own music if you wish.” I played an acoustic jazz album I listened to lately. He asked me what it was. I told him its title. I was curious why he asked, and he told me “I will do this product’s demonstration by playing this music to other prospective buyers in the future.” I was really happy, it was evident that the music somehow drew the salesperson in.
I think this person actually likes this music, but his path never crossed it before. Because of this, he only looked into genres that were familiar until that moment among those he has heard until then.
There is currently an interest in jazz. Everyone is aware of this. There are many jazz albums produced in Turkey. I think Turkish people should support these albums. They can support the musicians more by buying their albums and going to their concerts. It is very easy to see the reason why there is such a small number of concert venues. In such a city as Istanbul with a 20 something million population, there are only one or two concert venues with 300 seats. There should be kilometres of lines in front of clubs like those abroad.
The biggest gift to the jazz musician would be buying their album and going to their concert.
Kenan Doğulu (g, vo) & Şenova Ülker (tp) & Ozan Musluoğlu (b) & Ferit Odman (d) (Photo: Candaş Arın)
“I Try To Listen and Follow All Genres Of Music”
There are other genres I listen to, both in Turkish and in other languages. It would take too long to list them all. I try to keep them as varied as possible. I listen to everything that sounds good to me. Mostly acoustic, though. I always seem to look for a double bass, a grand piano or an acoustic guitar. I occasionally listen to classical music. I really like Turkish music as well. I have different periods when I listen to different things. Of course, 80% of these revolve around jazz. I try to follow local productions as much as I can. There are some very good albums released in Turkey. This is great. We have some great composers and they are recording amazing albums. I try to support them by buying their albums.
“Jazz Artist Is Naive”
All the jazz musicians I know, and those musicians who surround me are all very naive and sweet. They try to do their job the best they can, try to improve their instruments, and I think they have hearts of gold. Of course, musicians live with their egos and sometimes those egos emerge in very interesting ways. You could be taken by surprise! But if you look at it from a broad perspective, it does seem like jazz musicians’ have the smallest egos. I could be reading this wrong. Our main pursuit is to do everything at our maximum to perform this genre better, and the best that we can…
I would like to thank Ozan Musluoğlu for this enjoyable interview.
