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Senova Ulker

Şenova Ülker started his education in trumpet at the Ankara State Conservatory in 1969 and completed it upon his graduation with honors from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 1979. The same year, he auditioned for the Istanbul State Symphony and started to work as the first trumpetist. He currently holds the duty as the principal trumpetist.

Ülker taught for 15 years at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Conservatory and Istanbul University State Conservatory. He has also trianed many students through private lessons.

Besides his western classical career, Şenova Ülker also a performer of jazz. He started his jazz performances in 1977 during his student years with a group called, “Jazz Juniors.” Also during these years, he worked on jazz theory with Emin Fındıkoğlu. Ülker has performed in many concerts and jam-sessions with many renown jazz artists such as, Billy Hart, Buster Williams, Joe Henderson, Arto Tunç, Roy Hargrove, Sammy Figueroa, John Scofield, Bendik Hofseth, Dianne Reeves and Randy Brecker.

Ülker has worked together with Önder Focan in a jazz band for many years, and in the ‘90’s, two albums came out of this project, titled “Early” and “Eight.” In 1996, he formed the “Şenova Ülker Big Band;” conducted and performed with this orchestra for 1,5 years and has helped with the training of many young jazz musicians.

In 1998 he joined the band, “Passaporte Latino,” had a chance to perform with Cuban musicians and to learn about the music from its real sources, and together they created the album, “Latin Türküler.” In the upcoming years, his frequent performances with the group increased his interest in Latin music.

In the year 2001, Ülker performed in Selen Gülün’s album, “Just About Jazz.” The concert that he performed in as a member of the group, “Hi-Jazz” was released as a CD in 2003.

Ülker worked with Aşkın Arsunan in jazz groups that they created together, such as “0212” and “Ethno Karma.” He performed as a soloist and also as a member of the brass group, “3Bones” in Arsunan’s album, “One A Day” in 2004. In the same year, Ülker performed as a soloist in Sadun Aksüt’s “A Misty September Night;” Okan Ersan’s “To Whom It May Concern” and Donovan Mixon’s “The Dance of Life” albums. The next year, he played in Cengiz Baysal’s “Candy and Milkshake.” In 2007, he participated as a soloist and lead trumpetist in the album, “Istanbul Superband Plays Ömer Göksel” which was the first big band album in Turkey’s jazz history. He also performed in Önder Focan’s “Standard A La Turc” and “Swing A La Turc” albums in the same year.

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Album Review

Onder Focan: Aubergine / Patlican

Read "Aubergine / Patlican" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Six tunes about food or, more precisely, six tunes in tribute to the eggplant (aka the aubergine or the patlican); that is the tracklist for Aubergine / Patlican, a delightfully fresh and joyous album from Turkish guitarist Önder Focan. An established jazz musician with over a dozen albums to his name, Focan is based in Istanbul where he is artistic director of the Nardis Jazz Club. His playing has been compared to jazz masters including Larry Coryell, Kenny Burrell and ...

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