Maffy Falay

Trumpeter Muvaffak ‘Maffy’ Falay (born 1930) grew up in the Aegean town of Kuşadası, where a statue of him was recently installed. He studied piano and trumpet at Ankara’s conservatoire, and in 1956 he got the opportunity to play with Dizzy Gillespie and his band, who were on a State Department tour at the time. Gillespie gave Falay an instrument and jovially suggested he move to USA, as he “would get gigs on the name Muvaffak alone”.

In 1960, Falay joined Kurt Edelhagen‘s band in Köln, and for much of the 1960s, he recorded and toured with the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, along with musicians of the calibre of Benny Bailey, Jimmy Deuchar, Åke Persson, Ronnie Scott and Jimmy Woode. Falay settled in Sweden in 1965, where he joined the Swedish Radio Jazz Group. He was also a member of Lars Gullin‘s band for more than a decade. In 1969, he performed and recorded with Don Cherry and percussionist Okay Temiz in Ankara, who would soon follow his compatriot to Stockholm. Cherry composed a short piece ‘Maffy’, dedicated to his friend, for the album ‘Art Deco’ in 1988.

In 1970, he was reunited with Dizzy Gillespie to tour with his Reunion Orchestra. And from 1971, he led his own band, Sevda, featuring Temiz, Turkish violinist Salih Baysal, and Swedish saxophonist Bernt Rosengren. Still based in Sweden, Falay has led a more mainstream sextet since 1986 initially featuring Rosengren and trombonist Elvan Araci. In 2005, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievment Award at the Istanbul Jazz Festival.

Key Recordings:

Jazz Is Universal (Atlantic 1961) With Clarke-Boland Big Band

Sevda (Caprice 1972)

Hank’s Tune (Liphone 1993)