BURAK BEDIKYAN -Istanbul Junction
Steeplechase Records `Lookout` series: SCCD 33139
Burak Bedikyan (piano) Matthew Hall (bass) Can Kozlu (drums) with Gabor Bolla (tenor sax)
Recorded June 2017
Burak Bedikyan is a Turkish/Armenian pianist and composer who has recently moved permanently to New York where most of his previous recording activity has taken place. This latest release (his fifth for Steeplechase) was recorded just before that move took place and sees him in the company of Can Kozlu, a former teacher and mentor, on drums who also contributes a perceptive sleeve note which outlines the philosophy and working methodology behind the music. Also present are Matthew Hall, an American bassist working in Istanbul, and, on four of the nine tracks, Gabor Bolla, a Hungarian tenor sax man, who plays with a pleasingly warm timbre that imparts a decidedly `mainstream` tone to what is a quite ambitious and potentially radical amalgam of musical styles and influences.
In his notes Kozlu talks of Barak “being one of the few players of his generation who has the courage to play “dangerous music” whilst the pianist, in his footnote` talks of the importance of `spontaneity` and being able to` catch the spirit of the moment `. These are of course attributes that make jazz such rewarding music to listen to but they require special qualities if meaningless chaos is to be avoided and I am minded of the injunction given to public speakers that the best off the cuff speeches are those that are well rehearsed. I’m not in any way suggesting that the claims being made for this music are in any way disingenuous but simply that to take risks and push boundaries requires players who have a lot of music and technique at their fingertips and that doesn’t come out of thin air.
Bedikyan with his absorption in several musical genres and exposure to a variety of ethnic and cultural modes plus the technique to enable him to exploit the available possibilities, is certainly equal to the task and he demonstrates this, once again, in a set of original pieces for trio, quartet and solo piano that represent a rich tapestry of music, tantalisingly resisting easy classification but retaining indelible jazz credentials. It’s all here: European fin de siècle classical influences, exotic near eastern intervals and rhythms, freely improvised introspections and rubato musings, cunningly integrated allusions to the `standards` repertoire, all informed by the distinctive spirit of international jazz and making for a presentation of music that will reward the discerning listener over and over again. Many roads meet in Bedikyan’s music and for this listener their point of convergence is the place to be.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Steeplechase Records `Lookout` series: SCCD 33139
Burak Bedikyan (piano) Matthew Hall (bass) Can Kozlu (drums) with Gabor Bolla (tenor sax)
Recorded June 2017
Burak Bedikyan is a Turkish/Armenian pianist and composer who has recently moved permanently to New York where most of his previous recording activity has taken place. This latest release (his fifth for Steeplechase) was recorded just before that move took place and sees him in the company of Can Kozlu, a former teacher and mentor, on drums who also contributes a perceptive sleeve note which outlines the philosophy and working methodology behind the music. Also present are Matthew Hall, an American bassist working in Istanbul, and, on four of the nine tracks, Gabor Bolla, a Hungarian tenor sax man, who plays with a pleasingly warm timbre that imparts a decidedly `mainstream` tone to what is a quite ambitious and potentially radical amalgam of musical styles and influences.
In his notes Kozlu talks of Barak “being one of the few players of his generation who has the courage to play “dangerous music” whilst the pianist, in his footnote` talks of the importance of `spontaneity` and being able to` catch the spirit of the moment `. These are of course attributes that make jazz such rewarding music to listen to but they require special qualities if meaningless chaos is to be avoided and I am minded of the injunction given to public speakers that the best off the cuff speeches are those that are well rehearsed. I’m not in any way suggesting that the claims being made for this music are in any way disingenuous but simply that to take risks and push boundaries requires players who have a lot of music and technique at their fingertips and that doesn’t come out of thin air.
Bedikyan with his absorption in several musical genres and exposure to a variety of ethnic and cultural modes plus the technique to enable him to exploit the available possibilities, is certainly equal to the task and he demonstrates this, once again, in a set of original pieces for trio, quartet and solo piano that represent a rich tapestry of music, tantalisingly resisting easy classification but retaining indelible jazz credentials. It’s all here: European fin de siècle classical influences, exotic near eastern intervals and rhythms, freely improvised introspections and rubato musings, cunningly integrated allusions to the `standards` repertoire, all informed by the distinctive spirit of international jazz and making for a presentation of music that will reward the discerning listener over and over again. Many roads meet in Bedikyan’s music and for this listener their point of convergence is the place to be.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
