We respectfully commemorate Maffy Falay, Turkey’s first solo jazz artist, who fascinated the legends of music history, from Dizzy Gillespie to Quincy Jones, on the anniversary of his death.
It seems like no one uses his real name, Ahmet Muvaffak Falay. Since Falay has been known as Mafili since his childhood, and he has made himself accepted by the whole world with Maffy. He was born in Buca in 1930. Since his father, an agricultural engineer, visits home once a month, he spends his childhood with his mother, older brother and two older sisters. The first house he remembers from his childhood is in Karşıyaka. A piano stand in the corner of the two-storey house. While his older sisters take turns at the piano and play classical works by Bach and Mozart, his older brother accompanies them on the mandolin. His mother, who sings Turkish songs, is in another room. When everyone in the family is involved in music, even naps become difficult for Falay. While little Mafili is lying in the back room, the sounds of music coming from the living room make him dream. Dreaming of distant places is like a habit from childhood.
DISCOVERED IN THE MARCHING BAND
While he was still in secondary school in the early 1940s, his distance from school desks and the curriculum became evident. Falay, who walks the streets of Izmir, also receives a warning from the school. Just then, when his mother said, “I’m going to Ankara, you stay with your father for a while,” he found himself on the Kuşadası bus. His father, with whom he has had a distant relationship throughout his life, welcomes him and takes him to the tailor and has fancy clothes made for him. He stands there, but his soul is on the street.
One day, at Çolak Ahmet’s coffeehouse, where he was playing backgammon with his friends, he sees the boxes unloaded from the bus coming from Izmir. When he wonders what is inside the chained boxes and asks, he learns that they are reeds. The words “A teacher is coming from Izmir” are heard. Falay, who said, “Let’s at least join the band instead of standing idle,” has already taken the first step to change his life. When he joins the band and plays the instruments without any difficulty, he attracts the attention of the conductor and thanks to his teacher, he can dance with the notes in three months.
“WOW, PLAYS JAZZ”
Even though he was given a trombone in the marching band he joined at the age of 12, Falay’s eyes are on the trumpet. When everyone leaves rehearsal, he meets his secret love and goes down to the seaside. While Falay is growing up with the love he lives away from the public eye, he receives news. His mother has returned and is waiting for him. Falay hits the road once again with his small suitcase. This time from Kuşadası to Izmir. His disordered order in these comings and goings pushes him to the streets once again.
One day, while wandering around the streets of Izmir, he sees dozens of people at the Fair. He walks towards the rising voices, focused. Opposite him is the Izmir City Band of 45 people. Someone who noticed Falay, who couldn’t take his eyes off the trumpets, clarinets and drums, asked, “What are you doing here?” he asks. With a confident voice; “I’ll steal what you have,” he says and begins. Falay, who had no idea what he was doing until that day, was introduced to the music he would be passionate about for the rest of his life, when the other person said, “Oh, he plays jazz.”
Maffy Falay, who immediately joined the marching band, ran to Pasaport and then to Karşıyaka when the teacher said “Come every day”. When he gives the good news to his mother, there is a deep sigh of relief at home. He was recruited to the orchestra in a short time, with a salary of 34 lira. Seeing that his son has finally found a job, his mother sends a message to her neighbor, who is known as a pianist in the neighborhood, to ask for guidance. Undoubtedly, it makes a difference that this neighbor is the famous pianist Erdoğan Çaplı, who made a name for himself in New York in the 50s and 60s.
DIZZY LOVE
Maffy Falay, who prepared for the conservatory with the lessons he took from Çaplı, skipped the first year when he successfully passed the Ankara Conservatory exams and then studied trumpet and piano for seven years. During his conservatory days, a friend made him listen to his first jazz; Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. He was so impressed that from that day on, the walls of the conservatory became too small for him. The name of his favorite place now finds the equivalent of prison in his dictionary.
Young musicians who are introduced to jazz meet every Sunday and have a “jam session”. Falay now has only one thing on his mind; he will go to America and learn jazz. After graduating from the conservatory in 1954, he immediately went to the military. His military service, which he spent the first six months in Ankara and the rest in Iskenderun, turned into rehearsal days thanks to the pasha he coincidentally stole from. He spent most of this period practicing the trumpet under the trees in Iskenderun. He had already memorized the trumpet before going to America.
NOT MAFAK, MAFFY
When he returned to Ankara after his military service, he received such news that he could not bear it. Dizzy Gillespie is coming to Turkey to play after Iran. Immediately prepared, Falay goes to the airport with his bandmate Erol Pekcan, double bass player Süheyl Denizci and trombone player Sabahattin Doğangöz. A banner behind them; “Welcome Dizzy” it says.
While the band, which started playing as soon as the plane landed, was waiting excitedly, Gillespie walks towards them and extends his hand to Falay, who is standing in the front, and asks, “What is your name?” he asks. An expression of astonishment on the face of the famous musician who answered “Mafak”. He asks again. When he gets the same answer, he calls out to his wife with a mischievous smile. He asks again; “What is your name?” When she hears the answer “Mafak” once again, this time the woman becomes ashamed. Gillespie says, “You have a great name, if you come to America one day, you will be very famous.” Falay, who does not speak English, later learns the real reason for this surprise and changes his name to Maffy from that day on.
AS GOOD AS MILES DAVIS
Then, at the night they played at the American Embassy, Gillespie listened to him closely. He was so impressed that they took photos together and played together on stage. And for three whole nights. When Dizzy returns to America, he mentions Falay in an interview with Down Beat magazine. “He is such a trumpet player, he is as good as Miles Davis.” As if introducing him to the jazz world, they give him the good news that “He will come to America soon to learn jazz.”
Falay, whose name was heard more after Gillespie, went to Germany in 1960 for a concert with the Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra. Later, Falay joined the Cologne Radio Jazz Orchestra and performed with the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland group, which is still considered one of the most important jazz orchestras in history. The Turkish flag on the cover of the orchestra’s album “Jazz is Universal” is placed out of respect for Falay.
Maffy Falay, who met countless musicians from different countries during this period, asked “Shall I play for you?” while watching a Swedish band. When he asks, he finds himself on the stage. He makes his trumpet speak so loudly that the group immediately includes him. After this relationship lasted for a few months, Falay got into his car and went to Stockholm. With the contracts signed quickly, he starts playing in three clubs. Every musician who makes a record calls him. Playing in the studio during the day and in clubs at night, Falay’s fame now extends beyond Sweden. He performs with names such as Quincy Jones, Bernt Rosengren and Don Cherry, creates dazzling works with Swedish Radio Jazz Group, and fills the stage as a Turkish musician at European Jazz Stars concerts.
LOVE FOR TRADITIONAL RYTHMYS
While his years in Sweden were sequential, Falay encountered Ulvi Temel one day and went with Don Cherry to listen to his old friend. While Okay Temiz is on the drums, Falay can’t take his eyes off the drums. He starts meeting with Temiz and they soon start playing together. When Turkish melodies started to become popular in Swedish clubs, three or four records were released one after the other. In 1992, Falay became the first artist to combine traditional Turkish music with jazz with Sevda.
Maffy Falay is Turkey’s first solo jazz artist with his numerous stage performances, his fame extending from Sweden to America, his jazz albums as well as his experimental work Sevda. Close friend of Bill Evans, Elvin Jones, Don Cherry; Dizzy Gillespie’s favorite, a citizen of Sweden, and the pride of Kuşadası.
BONUS
One of the best works about Falay is Maffy’s Jazz, directed by Deniz Yüksek Abalıoğlu. The film, which witnesses the last days of the famous musician in Stockholm, is quite successful in reflecting the inner world of the legendary musician.
Another work belongs to the famous documentary director Batu Akyol. The documentary Jazz in Turkey, featuring Maffy Falay, discusses our jazz history in a layered way.
