Turkish-American jazz musician and teacher Emre Kartari and his group of Turkish and American jazz musicians performed at various universities in Izmir, Ankara, Kirikkale, Kirsehir and Kayseri.
Sazli Cazli’s jazz band group consists of Ayca Kartari, Kevin Simpson, Onur Puza, Taylor Barnett and Yahya Geylan. The group successfully combined Tuirkish folk music with American jazz melodies. The songs were all familiar to the Turkish audience’s ears in the meantime the group managed to add a twist with jazz notes into the mix.
About Emre Kartari
Emre Kartari, born in Ankara, is a Turkish jazz percussionist. Born into a family of musicians and artists, he moved to the United States when he was ten years old. Soon after, he began to study drums, which led to studying jazz percussion with T. Howard Curtis at Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds an M.A. in jazz performance and composition from New York University and received the Barney Josephson Award in 2003.
He toured the United States with the spoken-word, hip-hop group, Jazz Poets Society. While in New York, Kartari studied with Adam Nussbaum, John Riley, Tony Moreno, Billy Hart and Jamey Haddad. He has performed with jazz greats including Charlie Byrd, Jim McNeely, Ralph Lalama, Vic Juris, Ron McClure, Mike Richmond and David Liebman.
His first CD as a leader, Perpetual Anxiety, is released in Turkey under the Dogan Music label. In 2005, he performed and recorded for the rock band Brindley Brothers and the electric jazz group Signals.
Kartari has played and recorded with his own quartet, Origin, featuring David Liebman, John D’earth and Howard Curtis Emre also recorded with the trio Big Girl, featuring Darius Jones and Trevor Dunn from John Zorn-Fantomas.
As an educator, he has worked with the New York Pops-Mentors in Music program. He worked formerly at Hacettepe University in Ankara and founded their first jazz program approved by the state. He is currently a faculty member at Yaşar University in İzmir.
Visit Sazli Cazli’s photo gallery published on U.S. Embassy Ankara’s Facebook page.
