In honor of this Sunday, April 30, being International Jazz Day, let's give some love and appreciation to a number of talented expat musicians who are an integral part of the Istanbul jazz music scene.Matthew Hall

For years now, whenever I would ask if there were any foreigners playing jazz music in Istanbul, Matt Hall was always the first name to come up. An American hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Matthew Hall plays the upright bass and electric bass and accompanies dozens of musicians, performing in many cases seven days a week.Just some of the skilled musicians Matthew performs with are local jazz legends such as İmer Demirer, SibelKöse, Tamer Temel, Çağıl Kaya, Sarp Maden, Can Kozlu, Cem Aksel, Volkan Öktem, Serkan Özyılmaz, Ercüment Orkut, Emre Tankal, Kaan Bıyıkoğlu and French pianist Jef Giansily, as well as many more. Most of his gigs are played at Nardis, Istanbul's quintessential, classic and long-standing jazz club located just off from the Galata Tower in Beyoğlu or at Kaset Mitanni, which although maybe a newer venue in Istanbul's jazz scene, it is certainly one of the strongest contenders with live jazz music performances held practically every night.Matthew came to Istanbul over six years ago with his friend and drummer Emre Kartari, who is from Ankara yet has spent the majority of his life in the U.S. "We went to the same university and occasionally played gigs together in Richmond. He had decided to move to Istanbul and asked me if I would be interested in coming with him. At the time, I had been offered a job as a musician on a cruise ship, but decided to come to Istanbul with Emre instead," said Matthew, and thank goodness he did, as he is now a staple musician in Istanbul's blossoming jazz scene. I asked Matthew how it was for him, playing here in Turkey as a foreigner, to which he said, "Music is like a language, so it's pretty easy for musicians to go anywhere in the world and play." As for the jazz scene in Istanbul, Matthew says, "for a city the size of Istanbul, the jazz scene is really small, but there are a lot of talented and original musicians here."Andreas Metzler

Andreas Metzler is a German double bass player who was born in Bern, Switzerland and later lived in Amsterdam for nearly two decades. He married a Turkish woman and moved to Istanbul in 2015. Andreas has played the bass since he was 18 and has played in venues all over Europe as well as in New York, joining on stage the likes of Gary Smulyan, Dick Oatts, David Friedman, Tony Miceli, Okay Temiz, John Engels, SaskiaLaroo, Michiel Borstlap and Patrick Manzecchi.Andreas composes his own music as well as plays jazz rearrangements of Erik Satire compositions, which will soon be released as an album with Macrocosmos. Andreas will also be performing with Turkish jazz musicians Okay Temiz and Oğuz Büyükberber at the end of summer with Native City in Germany at the end of the year. In addition, in Istanbul, this summer you may be able to catch Andreas performing his own solo project, aptly entitled "bassolutions."I asked Andreas what it was like for him playing as a foreigner in Turkey and what the jazz scene her in Istanbul was like, to which he said, "It is difficult I have to say. The jazz scene is very small and different as there are no venues with jam sessions where you can easily come in contact with other musicians. In Istanbul, there are some great musicians but those who are, are very busy. Most musicians are in fixed formations doing their own thing and not many people share the standard repertoire. Also there are not many places to perform, but that's a difficulty that exists everywhere nowadays!"Kristian Lind

Kristian Lind is a Swedish double bass player who performs with the likes of Barbara Hendricks, Kurt Elling, Nils Landgren, Daniel Karlsson Trio, Mehmet Ikiz, Gustav Lundgren, Norrbotten Big Band and many others, who met his wife in Stockholm, where she was residing as an expat from Turkey. "When her contract finished, we decided to come to Turkey for a while and relax and try to find out what we wanted to do next. Our relaxation became two years in Çanakkale and one baby. When we thought our daughter was big enough, we decided to move to Istanbul and begin to work again: me as a musician and she as a business woman and we have been here now since last summer."I asked Kristian what it was like playing in Turkey as a foreigner, and he told me, "Everyone has been extremely welcoming and inviting, so apart from my language struggles, I couldn't be happier. I played a lot with 'Romanlar' when I was in Çanakkale and they were also very kind to me." As for the jazz scene in Istanbul, Kristian said, "So far, I have only played jazz in Istanbul but I know that there are also clubs in other cities. The audience is quite young here compared to Europe and they seem to be very interested in the music. I often end up answering questions in the breaks and after the concerts and that is, I think, a sign of a healthy music scene."Asking Kristian where he will be performing next, he said, "This coming weekend I will play in a jazz club called Noasis on Saturday and in Bahçeşehir University on Sunday for International Jazz Day. Noasis happens to be Kadıköy's sole serious jazz joint and is conveniently located near the neighborhood's iconic bull statue in Altıyol.As for his future plans, Kristian said, "I am working as a "sideman" in many projects here in Istanbul but my main goal right now is to record and release a new album with my Turkish trio that is a mixture of my own music as well as some of my arrangements of old Turkish songs. We will also soon begin to give concerts in Istanbul. I also have a project playing more traditional jazz with vocals."Williams Richart CardosoHailing all the way from Cuba, drummer and percussionist Williams Richart Cardoso came to Istanbul in 2004 with an electronic music show that he still presents in certain nightclubs in the city. His experience with jazz however spans way back to 1998 and all the way to Havana and a club called "The Fox and the Crow". It was there, "I had the opportunity to learn and to develop and it was my first step into entering the world of jazz," said Williams.When I asked who are some of the musicians he has performed with, he told me, "In this path of learning that has not yet ended, I have had the opportunity to play with the following teachers: Pooch Valdes, Ivan Lins, César López Quinteto, Dave Valentin, Ed Motta, Giovanni Hidalgo, John Benitez, Ernan Lopez Nussa, Alex Acuña Bobby Carcasses, Jose Luis Quintana "Changuito," Tata Guines and the Havana Ensemble"As for what it's like being a foreigner in the jazz scene in Turkey, Williams said, "Playing with musicians from other nationalities allows me to learn about their culture and nourish myself with new ideas. In my opinion, the jazz scene in Turkey is good, I think there are many musicians with great talent and creativity." Williams is currently working on his first solo album, a DVD with drums and percussion and collaborations with musicians of a variety of nationalities, and will soon be performing with his band to promote it.