Okay Temiz

Born in Istanbul, Turkey on February 11, 1939, Okay Temiz is an acclaimed jazz drummer and percussionist. Influenced and encouraged by his classically trained mother, he studied percussion at the State Conservatoire of Classical Music in Ankara. Okay Temiz began his professional music career in 1955 while also continuing his studies at the Tophane Art Institute. He gained musical knowledge and skills, which enabled him to create his own percussive instruments. He performed with several different Turkish groups between 1958 and 1967 before joining Ulvi Temel’s group and touring Europe. Moving to Sweden, Okay Temiz collaborated with jazz icons such as Dexter Gordon, George Russell, and Clark Terry. He met American jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, which whom he toured the US and Europe in 1971. This opened the door to many future musical collaborations with artists such as Johnny Dyani, Nils Sandstrom, Maffy Falay, Tony Scott, Müslüm Gürses, Bo Nilsson, and many others. He also recorded a series of albums as a leader and as a member of groups such as Xaba and Swedish-Turkish supergroup Oriental Wind. Okay Temiz’s catalog as bandleader includes Zikir with Oriental Wind (1979), Drummer of Two Worlds (1980), Dervish Service (1989), Miskit (1990), Green Wave (1992), Magnet Dance (1995), Yihhuu (2007), and Aurora Borealis (2014). Outside of his music, Okay Temiz has spent much of his career promoting multi-cultural music to a global audience. His work has been supported by both the Swedish and Turkish Ministry of Culture.

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