ISTANBUL ISTANBUL ISTANBUL ... NYC NYC NYC...

Our 2 nd and last show here in Istanbul as Nublu Istanbul Orchestra conducted by Butch Morris is now over. It was fun but hard work with Mr Butch Morris . Some of us who has done this work before knows how it goes ...100% focus at all times , if not you might get stung by his baton....

I felt people really appreciated these special performances here. And afterwards ofcourse we went to Nublu Istanbul for another 3 hours of jamming.

In between I ran to see a real nice show by this young band from Istanbul called 123. They were this time collaborating with a percussion ensemble called Sa ne na

In the pic's . Nublu Istanbul Orchestra, thr band 123 and Sa na ne, Reredux in nYC and Fernando Otero's Bandoneon man .

MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC...IN ISTANBUL NUBLU ORCHESTRA, THEN LONG JAM AT NUBLU , IN NYC DIEGO GARCIA AND HESS IS MORE ..

Music didn't stop yesterday . The show here in Istanbul with Nublu Orchestra was real good. The sound was great, lights were great and this new version of Nublu Orchestra with some Turkish musicians in it sounded real good. A few people told me they felt they were watching a thriller..so I guess it meant exciting ?? Then after a long show was time for Turkish meze's ( tapas) and then we were off to Nublu Istanbul where we played for 3 hours more....Arto Tuncboyaciyan showed up , this man i don't call a musician , I call him a magician . All of us from the Orchetsra jammed and vocalist Bora Uzer did his thing with us as well. The music traveled to many different places ...

It's an honor to have Eddie Henderson , Juini Booth and Nasheet Waits here mixing it up in the Orchestra. After our Silver show we all blended in with the Turks and Mr Butch Morris, and it feels fresh.

Oh boy Eddie's stories are just amazing . One day I will write more about it...but he is a real jazz golden boy . To say a few things , his first trumpet teacher was Louis Armstrong , his baby sitter was Sarah Vaughan, his 2nd and 3rd trumpet teachers was Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard , his mother room mate was Billie Holiday and she was also one of the original Cotton Club dancers .

In NYC I heard Hess is more and vocalist Diego Garcia rocked ...

In the pic's ; Butch Morris and well known Turkish classical conductor Ender Sakpinar, Eddie Henderson, Eddie and Duke Ellington , Eddie with herbie Hancocks Mwandishi band, pic of Istanbul, 2 pics of our new band called Silver , Ozan and Engin jamming with Nasheet Waits and last pic Butch and Nasheet.

NUBLU ISTANBUL ORCHESTRA CONDUCTED BY BUTCH MORRIS ...

Here now , in Istanbul ,rehearsing 3 days with Mr Butch Morris and a gang of great local musicians + Eddie Henderson , Nasheet Waits , Juini Booth and me Ilhan Ersahin... So, the music for now is sounding melodic, minimal , some twisted grooves and somewhat dynamic. 2nd day reharsing with Butch . The shows are tomorrow Friday and Saturday at CRR concert hall, if someone is around Istanbul. Will be exciting !

Here are some photos of the band .. forgot Selen Gulun on keys .. tomorrow i add her !!

Butch Morris, Bilal Karaman, Ersin Ozer,Serhan Erkol, , Ediz Hafizoglu,and Ozan Musluoglu, Imer Demirer, Sarp Maden , Nasheet Waits and Eddie Henderson, Izzet Kizil, Juini Booth and Ozan .

FRANK PEROWSKY BIG BAND AT NUBLU ! THE MAN WHO ARRANGED AND WROTE FOR LIZA MINELLI, THAD JONES/MEL LEWIS ETC ETC.....LET IT RING , LET IT SWING !

AND NOW , THIS WEEK ; SOME NUBLU SHOWS IN ISTANBUL !! ... PREMIERING SILVER AND A VERSION OF NUBLU ORCHESTRA ...." NUBLU ISTANBUL ORCHESTRA '..

BRAZIL WEEK...WAX POETIC FEATURING OTTO

I filmed these with a nice old super 8 camera. then Chantal Ughi did the edits . ( She is by the way kickboxing champion as of now in Thailand , wild girl !!)

I just thought since Brazil themed week on the blog..... wanted to show these 2 videos we did , although they're by now almost 3 years old. Otto is always cool and i thought the music still valid. ALTHOUGH ....a new Wax Poetic record is done and it's single will be released June 21 !

Then full length album in September... but for now chek these....

NEW GOOD MUSIC FROM BRASIL...

Cool , good and fresh music from Brazil.

Check em out.

Nina Becker duo release, Vermelho and Azul, Marcelo Camelo, Amabis featuring Ceu, Mombojo, Guizado

SAO PAULO SAO PAULO SAO PAULO....NYC NYC NYC..

Brazil's main city is one huge crazy city. If compared to the US someone told me ; Sao Paulo is Brazil's NYC , Rio Brazil's LA , Recife Brazil's San Fransisco and Salvador Brazil's Miami . There's some truth to that in many ways . And yes Sao Paulo is exciting like NYC , maybe even more , seems to me less rules and laws that is put upon us all. This city is full of street art , clubs , cafees, art galleries ... kinda boiling in a different way than the US , Europe and Istanbul.

We played a show at Studio SP as Love Trio with guests...was real fun. Dengue and Lucio Maia from Nacao Zumbi rocked and Rodrigo and Taylor McFerrin sounded real smooth. Afterwards we went with Taty, who's by the way the daughter of the great performer/musician Ney Matogrosso, to late late nite club The Edge. I guess NYC was like that in the 80's .The party at the Edge went on til 7 am then continued on their rooftop.

Nublu in NYC last nite was also boiling ....with Forro in the Dark drumming and dancing up a storm. Norah Jones, Ana Carolina, Maria Gadu, Chiara Civello and Esperanza Spaulding came by. All amazing vocalists...

In the pic's ..Taylor Kenny Wollesen and Talita , Taty at the rooftop of the Edge, soundcheck at Studio SP, Lucio Maia and Alerto Continentino,writer Xico Sa and Ceu, great singer Siba, Kenny Wollesen and Art director Renata, Tony and drumemr friend who i forgot the name of , Criolo great new vocalist /rapper, Taylor and Jair Oliveira.

SEAFOOD....HOPEFULLY WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE IT ..

AFTERNOON IN RIO ...WILL BE OUT MAY 24TH ! IN THE US..

WITH ILHAN ERSAHIN ,KASSIN , NINA BECKER, THALMA DE FREITAS,KENNY WOLLESEN , CHINA , JUNIO BARRETO, BARBARA EUGENIA, ALBERTO CONTINENTINO , LEO MONTEIRO , ALP ERSONMEZ , MUZAK AND TAKARA .

VIRADA CULTURAL FESTIVAL IN SAO PAULO, 10 STAGES 800 000 PEOPLE 24 HOURS ! ...IT WAS FUN ..

It was real fun to be a part of this one day carnaval craze. I duno exaclty but i think 150 bands , 10 stages or so, comedy stages, dj stages , all done in down town Sao Paulo within 24 hours. So it still goes on as we speak... amazing event, really .

We totally went for it in a 1 hour set as Love Trio (Kenny Wollesen, Albereto Continentino and I) and guests Lucio Maia from the band Nacao Zumbi and Lone Ranger (steppin in for a sick U-roy, but he is feelin better now). B Negao one of Brazil's best vocalist /rapper came on in floating on a dubby song with us . And so did Taylor McFerrin . He gave a cool intro. to a song which is more in a housy mode rather then dubby . Well maybe psychadelic , or rocky . I guess it's the Nublu sound....

Skatalites played before us. And after our show, we moved on to Sesc Pompeia , where we had our Nubu jazzfest this past October. Some friends were playing there in a tribute band that plays all Tim Maia music. It's an all star band led by producer and great music man in general , Ganjaman . The band has also Boca on guitar, Nublu girl Thalma de Freitas on vocals, Bnegao and a few other groovy musicians. They sounded real great .

In the pic's Love Trio , Lucio Maia, hanging post show with Lone Ranger and Chester. Thalma de Freitas and Tim Maia band , Taylor McFerrin and Talita, Ganjaman and Bnegao, Karina of Thievery corporation and Lorenso.