MOE JOE
Istanbul - Izmir
Moe Joe was founded by Feramerz Ayadi and Vefa Karatay in August 1994. Instead of other electric blues bands in Turkey, Moe Joe chose a different path to follow; which refers mainly to Chicago blues and struggled hard on the club scene during early years. By the time, the band turned out to be a shelter for purist audience and led the electric blues scene with its distinctive approach.
In June 1996, Sarp Keskiner and İlhan Babaoğlu joined the band; both were until then members of Istanbul Blues Company. By the joining of Keskiner, Moe Joe mostly started to perform his originals; besides a large repertoir of Chicago Southside & Westside classics, Detroit style boogies, early Texas shuffles and dark Louisiana grooves.
In April 1998, the band reached at the peak of its musical performance with the collaboration of harmonica virtuoso Tuğrul Aray and lately in February 2001; Ergin Özler empowered the rhythm section with his swinging drumming.
In 1996 and 1997, during the 7th and 8th Efes Pilsen Blues Festivals; Moe Joe was the house band for club jams. With this occasion, the band had the opportunity to share the stage with some all-time legends like Guitar Shorty, Eddie Kirkland and Nappy Brown; in addition to the new rising stars of urban blues such as Alvin Youngblood Hart and Lavay Smith. The band was sincerely congratulated and encouraged by Mick Jagger, Randy Weston, George Benson, John Scofield, Adam Rudolph, Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders and the names listed above.
After releasing the self produced, “all are originals” debut album “Chicago Istanbul Mainline” on November 24th 2000, Moe Joe faced a big attention from national media; having been interviewed and guested on various magazines, web sites, radio and tv channels. This media interest came to the top after a long Turkey tour; giving the chance to Moe Joe sharing all the enthusiasm with audiences whom never had heard blues before.
Since 2001, the band started to experiment on Caribbean, Brazilian and Cuban beats; blending them with gospel and blues with a rootsy approach. During that experimental era, the casting enlarged by addition of Özün Usta (conga, djembe, cajon) and Yavuz Darıdere (Hammond organ, Rhodes).
In June 2003, by departure of Aray and Babaoğlu; Moe Joe turned back to the basics with a more jazzed up sound. The renewal continued with experimental jams with various, respected free jazz musicians of Turkey. Evolving into a stool band in 2004, the quartet gained the advantage of performing in more smaller venues; with a more economized PA set up; this time putting the focus on raw delta blues and a deep fried Southern R&B.
Moe Joe offers a stunning performance for international blues audience; with a wide palette covering all colors of blues and styles beyond.