Muvaffak "Maffy" Falay


Muvaffak "Maffy" Falay is a Turkish trumpeter.
Born in 1930 in Karşıyaka, his family later moved to Kuşadası, a large resort town on Turkey's Aegean coast. A statue in the Kuşadası town square now honors him, with the plaque reading in part:
"In 1942, Maffy, the son of Agriculture Department head Fuat Falay heard that a teacher would be arriving in Kuşadası from Izmir to establish a Municipal band team in the street. He started his career in music in Kuşadası Municipality’s band at the age of 12. He learned to read music notes and to play the trumpet with excellent skills with 5 hours of practice per day in just 3 months..."
He later studied trumpet and piano in Ankara Conservatory. In 1960, he entered the radio orchestra under the conduction of Kurt Edelhagen, in Köln. Then he toured Europe as a member of the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band and played on six of the band's albums.
He has played in orchestras led by Benny Bailey, Ake Persson, Phil Woods, Sixten Eriksson and Quincy Jones. In 1965 he decided to move to Sweden where he was playing for the radio jazz orchestra, and touring around the Americas at the same time. In 1970 he started playing in the Dizzy Gillespie Reunion Orchestra. Gillespie is said to have described him as "as good as Roy Eldridge or Miles Davis." He has also played with Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, and Elvin Jones.
In 1971 he formed the band Sevda, featuring Bernt Rosengren, Okay Temiz, Gunnar Bergsten, Ove Gustafsson and Salih Baysal.
In 2005 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Istanbul Jazz Festival.
He still lives in Stockholm.

Recordings

As leader/co-leader

With Don Cherry
With the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band