In 1969 Istanbul, James Baldwin brought Don Cherry and Turkish percussionist Okay Temiz together to score Fortune and Men’s Eyes, a controversial play about gay love in an Istanbul prison. The resulting music—a hypnotic, unruly weave of drums and flutes, somewhere between free jazz and a fever dream—vanished for more than 50 years. Now, Caz Plak has finally unearthed it.
Category: Okay Temiz
Okay Temiz / Johnny Dyani :: Witchdoctor’s Son
A mind meld of epic proportions, in 1976 Turkish jazz percussionist Okay Temiz and South African pianist, bassist, and vocalist Johnny Dyani teamed up for Witchdoctor’s Son. Sharing original compositions, a Don Cherry cover, and re-arranged traditionals from their respective homelands, the pair deftly fuse the material into wild, free jazz freakouts.
Okay Temiz :: East Breeze
Fusing its eastern base with latin rhythms, de rigueur flourishes of psych and a second helping of sinuous funk, Temiz’s polyrhythmic stew effortlessly bends/blends myriad modalities. For a taste, tuck into “East Breeze”, a tune that immediately sets the table with a sinister bağlama riff (courtesy of Arif Sag) that floats above all manner of percussion… in addition to berimbaus, talking drums, zithers, finger bells, woodwinds, and a rather nasty synth line. Bon appétit.