Sad news from the jazz community: Hasan Kocamaz has passed away

Master of Turkish jazz music Hasan Kocamaz has passed away at the age of 96.

Kocamaz will be laid to rest in Kilyos following the funeral prayer to be held tomorrow at Bebek Mosque.

The Hasan Kocamaz event, which was to be held today at the CRR Concert Hall by Leyla Diana Gücük and Nazlı Toprak, has been turned into a memorial service due to his passing, and all jazz lovers have been invited.

WHO IS HASAN KOCAMAZ?

Many of us know him as the person who opened "360," Turkey's first jazz club in Bebek, but Hasan Kocamaz's personal story is much longer than this short sentence. When he returned to the spotlight with Emin Fındıkoğlu's album after a long silence, many music lovers got to know him for the first time.

Hasan Kocamaz was born in Istanbul in 1928 and was introduced to jazz music during his education at Galatasaray High School. He started music by playing the drums, later switched to the bandoneon, but eventually settled on the harmonica. He played the harmonica in the school's famous scout group, İzcaz. Later, he formed his own groups.

He played with some of the most important musicians of an era, such as Erdem Buri, Doctor Fazıl Abrak, İlhan Mimaroğlu, Nejat Cendeli, Turan Eteke, and Eray Turgay. When he listened to his first jazz music in his life at the Mıhitaryan Armenian School in Pangaltı, the Second World War had just ended. They used to play with trombonist Arto, drummer Kohenka, trumpeter Dikran Haçaduryan, pianist Alex, and Hırant Lüsikyan, who is a legend today. Arif Mardin was also among those who listened to them.

He won first prize in the harmonica competition held in Paris in 1959. During those same years, with the support of Cüneyt Sermet, he began playing the trumpet. He also worked with famous musicians of the period such as Yavuz Özışık, Tülay German, Erol Büyükburç, and Necdet Karar.

Kocamaz did not receive a long musical education, but he always worked to learn the soul of music. He engraved the mathematical equation of jazz music into his heart.

He lived abroad, but eventually decided to live in his own homeland. Because the sea became polluted, he left Bebek and lived in a house with a garden in Kilyos, close to the nature he loved so much. He was a motorcycle enthusiast, one of the first Vespa owners in Turkey, and an avid hunter. At the same time, he continued to follow today's jazz music with the deep accumulation of the past.

Hasan Kocamaz passed away on March 15, 2024.

News Source: 12punto