Hailu Mergia: Yene Mircha

While Mulatu Astatke is the musician most widely associated with the creation of Ethio-jazz, fellow keyboardist Hailu Mergia is among other significant figures. Astatke is best known overseas because he was the most outward looking of Ethio-jazz's first generation, studying at London's Trinity College of Music and Boston's Berklee College of Music and making his first records in New York in 1966. Mergia by comparison has always looked in the main to Ethiopian traditional music for vocabulary and form. In this respect he resembles his contemporary, the tenor saxophonist Getatchew Mekurya, whose excoriating style, which could make Albert Ayler sound like Candy Dulfer, was developed in total isolation from Impulse! or ESP releases and indeed jazz of any stripe.

Mergia relocated from Addis Ababa to Washington DC in the 1980s, but this did not immediately increase his overseas profile. Instead of seeking access to the US music scene he worked for many years as a cab driver, self-producing solo cassettes for the expatriate Ethiopian community and performing only at family gatherings. Lala Belu (Awesome Tapes, 2018) was his first studio album in 15 years. By the time it was recorded, Mergia had inevitably been exposed to a raft of American jazz and the album—an exquisitely beautiful affair on which he was accompanied by drummer Tony Buck, a founder member of The Necks, and double bassist Mike Majkowski—reflected those relatively recent influences.

Yene Mircha has stronger infusions of rock, reggae and funk than Lala Belu and its back-up band is workmanlike rather than striking. Mergia would appear to be reaching out to a crossover audience, and good luck to him, but the mostly laid-back album does not transmit quite so much magic. If Lala Belu was the aural equivalent of dropping acid, Yene Mircha better resembles kicking back with a couple of Mandrax. Whatever turns you on.

Track Listing

Semen Ena Debub; Yene Mircha; Bayne Lay Yihedal; Abichu Nega Nega; Yene Abeba; Shemendefer.

Personnel

Hailu Mergia: keyboards, accordion, melodica, vocals; Alemseged Kebede: bass guitar; Kenneth Joseph: drums; Setegn Atenaw: mesenqo (1); Abraham Rezene Habte: guitar (1); Moges Habte: saxophone (2); Ben Hall: trombone (2); Mike Ault: guitar (2, 6); Tsehay Kassa: vocals (4, 6).

Album Information

Title: Yene Mircha | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Awesome Tapes From Africa

Saburo K, Saitama, Japan.

Rez Abbasi: OASIS

Guitarist Rez Abbasi and harpist Isabelle Olivier's OASIS (an acronym for Olivier Abbasi Sound In Sound) is embodiment of fusion. Not the variety you may recognize as jazz-rock fusion, more like fusion cooking, for example Korean-Mexican or sushi-pizza. Okay, not sushi-pizza, but you get the idea. Olivier and Abbasi are pulling together jazz, Indian-Pakistani, and European classical music without compromising the character of each.

Abbasi, a Pakistani-American is better known than his French partner (who lives part time in Chicago) via the the Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet, Rez Abbasi Trio, Rez Abbasi & Junction, and Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition. He has the skills and maybe more importantly the temperament to seamlessly switch between soul-jazz, South Asian music, post-bop, blues, and world music. With OASIS all those skills are exhibited, plus he deals with a new instrument, a harp and Olivier's compositions.

The harpist's music explores the elegantly delicate on "Cherry Blossoms," shifts into Hitchcock-like soundtrack scores with "Timeline," and employs ethereally contemplative ambiance on "Dodeca." Additionally, the pair decided to add two percussionists, David Paycha (drums) and Prabhu Edouard (tabla & kanjira), to the musical meal. The two-string and two-percussion approach frustrates any attempt to categorize this outing. Olivier's harp often morphs into a piano-like sound ("Stepping Stone") or it mimics a sitar on "Lemongrass," with Abbasi providing a bass line. Olivier's "Looking For Dad" and the quartet's cover of Richard Rodger's standard, "My Favorite Things," might be the best examples of this edible fusion. Like John Coltrane's version of MFT, they take a bit of saccharine and turn it into something savory. "Looking For Dad" combines the pieces without degrading parts. Indian tabla music acts as a pillar for both a Spanish-tinged guitar and some European chamber-meets-popular music.

OASIS is a melange with crisp edges.

Track Listing

My Favorite Things; Lemongrass; Cherry Blossom; Timeline; Cover Qui Bat; Stepping Stone; Road Movie; Dodeca; Other Tones; Looking For Dad.

Personnel

Rez Abbasi: guitar; Isabelle Olivier: harp; Prabhu Edouard: tablas; David Paycha: drums.

Album Information

Title: OASIS | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Enja Records/Yellowbird

Saburo K, Saitama, Japan.

Teymur Phell: Master Volume

This crackling debut from Teymur Phell is a hearty, eclectic and loud funk-fusion party. He sets the tone right away with "Zero to Sixty"—a title that's actually a bit misleading since it kicks off already at sixty mph—and shows that he knows his way around a bass, and also has plenty of use for one with six strings, thank you very much. This jaunt as leader follows years of live and session work; he has clearly taken a lot away from his time supporting such names as Randy Brecker, Arturo Sandoval or Mike Stern (who adds an extra shot of electricity here), and is happy to build on that experience to excellent effect.

Refreshingly, after that blistering opener, Phell is equally willing to scale back the fireworks and serve the groove when that's best. The crew on Master Volume is as sharp and slick as the all-original songs, wailing through rock-ish jams and jazzy swing alike. One highlight, "Worth the Wait," harks back to Weather Report's catchiest point circa Heavy Weather (Columbia, 1976), while a couple of dreamier moments lean on saxophone and keys without any unduly excessive smoothness.

Even the closing piano-led jaunt of "Blues for Who?" sounds too cheerful to be hinting at any blues. Phell's tireless New York City attitude is as fiercely hard-hitting and upbeat as his low-end work throughout. It's an apt close to a relentlessly bright and colorful affair. This party is the kind which screams big city and bright lights—the kind that isn't worried about waking up the neighbors because they aren't going to bed until the night's mostly gone either.

Track Listing

Zero to Sixty; Papano Kimono; Old Window; Master Volume; Worth the Wait; Unfinished Business; Hayvanhana; Sweet Sweep; Chances Are; Blues for Who?.

Personnel

Teymur Phell: electric bass, vocals; Nitzan Gavrieli: piano, keys; Chad Lefkowitz Brown: tenor sax; Mike Stern: guitar; Lionel Cordew: drums; Dennis Chambers: drums; Daniel Sadownick: percussion; Itai Kriss: flute; Albert Leusink: trumpet; Brian Bonvissuto: trombone; Wisam Khoury: darbuka.

Album Information

Title: Master Volume | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Self Produced

Saburo K, Saitama, Japan.

Peter Slavov: Little Stories

While these ten tracks recorded by bassist Peter Slavov's variable-sized outfit were all fleshed out in the studio between 2017 and 2019, this debut album actually covers a wider span of time. Collecting music penned over the past 20 years, and attaching attendant stories for background and bridging purposes, Slavov essentially looks back over his entire professional career and beyond.

Fantasy, family, literature and life as we know it all play a part in the telling of these tales, but at the root of it all is Slavov's resounding bass. Whether serving as a harmonic pivot, an instrument of energy or the central voice, it's always on point. All of that is made clear within the first two numbers. Both enhanced with strings, they essentially cover two different sides of the same coin: "Prologue: Glide" references a dream of flight, ably manifested in the leader's catalytic lines, and "Gone," with its episodic introductions and flowing ideals, comes to terms with the nightmare of loss which accompanied Slavov's father's passing.

Further on, within the looser confines of "Bye," Slavov expands on his connection to his father with some help from the core band of pianist Nitzan Gavrieli, drummer Diego Ramirez and multi-reedist John Ellis (on bass clarinet). It's one of the most engrossing pieces on the program, but no single song, including that one, manages to capture the leader's multi-dimensional being. It takes the entire album to really cover his individualistic qualities.

As each story unfolds, the bassist lays out different parts of his past while inviting various friends to join in and highlight different facets of his writing. "Small Little Things," nodding to an unnamed important figure in Slavov's life, brings Mark Small's bass clarinet into a wondrous scenario; "History of Beauty," referencing Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, welcomes Mi Kim's wordless vocals and Marcio Philomena's guitar to a gorgeous Brazilian stream of thought; and the reflective "A.M.," recalling midnight walks through the snowy streets of Sofia in Bulgaria, offers both Mark McLean's understated drumming and Matt Marantz's inviting tenor saxophone a place at the table.

In the end—and, literally, at the end—Slavov leaves us with a reminder that, despite displays of kinship and connection, music retains certain solitary suggestions in its birthing and being. The semi-improvised "Elegy," putting the focus squarely on the bassist, proves to be a fitting way to close out a compelling program which speaks volumes about one man's history and artistry.

Track Listing

Prologue: Glide; Gone; Small Little Things; Photos; Bye; History of Beauty; Ghost; In Defense Of The Minotaur; A.M.; Elegy.

Personnel

Peter Slavov: bass, acoustic; John Ellis: saxophone; Matt Marantz: saxophone; Dan Kaufman: piano; Nitzan Gavrieli: piano; Mark McLean: drums; Diego Joaquin Ramirez: drums; Marcia Philomena: guitar; Entcho Todorov: violin; Patti Kilroy: violin; Jen Herman: viola; Yves Dharamraj: cello; Adele Stein: cello; Mi Kim: vocalist.

Album Information

Title: Little Stories | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Slavov Music

Saburo K, Saitama, Japan.

Chicago Underground Quartet: Good Days

Of the many Rob Mazurek led groups, his Chicago Underground collective has been the most prolific and adventurous cooperative with seven duo outings and another four trio releases. The quartet version of Chicago Underground, like the 1998 "Orchestra" formation, had issued only one album, the self-titled debut on the Thrill Jockey label in 2001. A one-off quartet project (Chicago/London Underground) A Night Walking Through Mirrors (Cuneiform Records, 2017) featured Mazurek, drummer Chad Taylor, British pianist Alexander Hawkins, and bassist John Edwards.

Almost two decades later the "official" Chicago Underground quartet returns with Good Days. Regular Mazurek colleagues, guitarist Jeff Parker (Isotope 217 and Tortoise), and Taylor return from the original quartet. Bassist Noel Kupersmith is replaced here by multi-instrumentalist Josh Johnson who plays in Parker's New Breed group.

A ceaseless experimenter, Mazurek here leads the group in a very accessible and melodic outing as he did on his recent Desert Encrypts Vol. 1 (Astral Spirits, 2019). One of that album's compositions—"Encrypts 37"—is reimagined as "Unique Spiral," a pared-back, edgier take. "Good Days (For Lee Anne)" was written by Parker and first appeared on his trio album Bright Light in Winter (Delmark, 2012). Stunning in its original form, Mazurek's trumpet adds another, ethereal element. Idiosyncratic pieces are intermingled in the set: Taylor's log drum solo "Lomé" and "All the Bells" highlighting contemplative bells, the jangling of objects, and Mazurek's slurred, crackled piccolo trumpet.

Mazurek, Taylor, and Parker have collectively worked on dozens of projects and their telepathy is long-established. Johnson is an excellent, if somewhat understated addition, and his piano work shines here. Parker's contributions to Good Days can't be applauded enough; whether complex or simple, his playing is always meaningful. Chicago Underground releases are always welcome; this one is a superior example of what maturity and openness can net.

Track Listing

Orgasm; Strange Wing; Good Days (For Lee Anne); Batida; All The Bells; Unique Spiral; Lomé; Westview.

Personnel

Josh Johnson: synth bass, organ, piano; Rob Mazurek: piccolo trumpet, electronics, bells.

Album Information

Title: Good Days | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Astral Spirits

Saburo K, Saitama, Japan.

Mehdi Nabti & Prototype: Grooves à Mystères

With no fanfare whatsoever, this outstanding fench-canadian recording, ''Grooves à Mystères'', features alto saxophonist, flautist and composer Mehdi Nabti with his band ''Prototype'' (Nicolas Lafortune: electric bass, Joy Anandasivam: electric guitar, Bertil Schulrabe: drums, derbouka, triangle, sheker) making an album for the ages.

Nabti starts the proceedings off with ''Antee'' and ''Eon'', two beautiful melodies and improvisations on a medium-slow derbuka rythm, spitting out the melodies of "Ayyur''. There's his inimitable clear and organic tone, sounding both sweet and sharp. There's his miraculous intensity, his roiling swing, and the tidal wave of fresh ideas, the constant creativity. During these three tunes Nabti never coasts.

"Mithra" and ''Promethee'' are similarly impressive, magnificent with superb work by Nabti who never lets up. Even the more lyrical pieces, the afrobeat "Esperanto", the trance dancing ''Timgad'' and the traditionnal folk song "So Maki Sum Se Rodila" are played with an exciting sound.

The rhythm section should not be neglected. They function as a unit, meshing with admirable precision and grooving, really grooving. Anandasivam is a formidable soloist and a very capable sideman. Lafortune is rock-solid, and Schulrabe is a strong and powerful timekeeper who also solos impressively on "Promethee".

Mehdi Nabti nominates his work ''Afro-Berber continuum''. He is trying to develop a contemporary improvised music based on musical techniques that he identified in North Africa and others influences...and he succees! If you missed him the other times around, now's the time to correct that oversight.

Track Listing: Antee, Ayyur, Eon, Esperanto, Mithra, Promethee, So Maki Sum Se Rodila, Timgad

Personnel: Mehdi Nabti : alto sax, moroccan flute (nira), clavé. Nicolas Lafortune: electric bass. Joy Anandasivam: electric guitar. Bertil Schulrabe: drums, derbouka, triangle, sheker

Title: Grooves à mystères | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Self Produced

Saburo K, Saitama, Japan.

Donna Khalifé: Hope is the Thing with Feathers

Lebanese vocalist and bassist Donna Khalifé is a consummate jazz artist. In addition to mastering singing in all its aspects, including scatting, she is a distinctive composer and an accomplished instrumentalist. On her second release Hope Is the Thing with Feathers she leads her quintet on intriguing interpretations of standards and her own originals.

This stimulating album opens with a unique take on Rodgers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things." After Khalifé's chant-like vocals, which the group's expectant refrains buoy, the song takes on an electric and funky groove. As Khalifé inventively scats, the undulating instrumental vamps contribute a relaxed intimacy. With urgency and swagger, Lebanese guitarist Raffi Mandalian launches into a blistering solo which brims with rock and roll sensibilities.

Mandalian and Khalifé engage in a delightful duet on the title track which progresses to feature French saxophonist Phillipe Lopes de Sa's acerbic muscular lines and passionate wail. Throughout the diverse tempo changes, Lebanese drummer Fouad Afra propels the music with his passionate and lithe polyrhythms. Afra is perfectly suited to the task as he is comfortable in a variety of settings and genres. At the core of the piece Armenian expat keyboardist Arthur Satyan's elegant and earthy chords simmer.

An award-winning pianist, and the head of the Lebanese National Conservatory's jazz program, Satyan improvises with inventiveness throughout the record. For instance, on the haunting "Koutalon Kharsa,'" as Khalifé's prayer-like articulation of the Arabic lyrics soars with breathtaking agility, Satyan peppers the spiritual ambience with sparse chiming notes which shimmer in the enveloping silence. Khalifé enhances the captivating and otherworldly atmosphere by overdubbing herself taking the tune from eerie and serene to mystical and bright.

Khalifé explores the range of her creativity from the soft lullaby-like opening of "Ta'iran" to her mesmerizing vocal acrobatics on "Sultan." She matches these with her understated poetry on the stand up bass. Perhaps the most intriguing demonstrations of her versatility are the two versions of the Swedish folk song "Uti var Hage"; the first is almost like a Baroque aria with the melancholic sounds of Swedish Vindla String Quartet providing lush support; the second is more soulful, and features the regular quintet; Khalifé's voice mirrors Lopes de Sa's serpentine phrases before the latter launches into an exciting spontaneous embellishment of the pastoral melody.

WIth her sophomore effort, leading a new ensemble, Khalifé has topped her already brilliant debut Heavy Dance (2017, Self Produced). Both her writing and performance demonstrate increased maturity and a singularly personal style. Despite the brevity of her recording career, Khalifé is already a sui generis musician destined for widespread success both at home and abroad.

Track Listing: My Favorite Things; Vocalism; Koutalon Kharsa'; Hope Is the Thing with Feathers; Uti Var Hage (feat. Vindla String Quartet); Romane; Ta'iran; Sultan; Uti Var Hage.

Personnel: Donna Khalifé : voice, double bass; Philippe Lopes de Sa: saxophones; Raffi Mandalian: guitar; Arthur Satyan: Rhodes piano; Fouad Afra: drums; Vindla String Quartet.

Title: Hope is the Thing with Feathers | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Self Produced

Saburo K, Saitama, Japan.

Harish Raghavan: Calls For Action

Several factors make bassist Harish Raghavan's debut album remarkable. The first and most striking is the sense of extreme urgency in the tone of the compositions as well as the disjointed manner with which the instruments search for common ground in and around each other. Another factor can be found in the understated melodic motifs whose arcs sometimes stretch over the entire duration of a tune. Melody in general is critical to the album's appeal. Most of the interplay and compositional foundation is based on melodic ideas rather than harmonic ones.

Four of the bassist's earliest compositions for this quintet shape the head of the record in a suite-like fashion. Prefaced by a spicy bass solo for an intro, "Newe" opens with heavy, chordal bass-strokes and excited rhythmic drum work. The saxophone howls out the first notes of the melodic head before the vibraphone joins in unison. Piano, saxophone and vibes trade lines to jumpy bass accents and drum workouts until another small section in melodic unison leads back to the main theme. All of this is presented within the frame of rapid 6/8 time. Follow-up "Los Angels" differs from its predecessor in almost every way. A slower pulse gives way for sound and atmosphere to develop and drums and bass to place syncopations more carefully and to more dramatic effect. Pianist Micah Thomas is given more space to harmonically unfold in the beginning sequence of "Sangeet" before the second half of the piece cuts back to quicker and more narrow interplay between vibraphone and saxophone.

It would be easy to group this collection of songs into faster and slower ones or darker and lighter ones. However, that wouldn't do these meticulously wrought compositions justice. Each track has its place on the album for different reasons and each instrumentalist shines on the various songs with different virtues. More extensive cuts, such as "Seaminer" or "Shift," combine a number of divers elements and approaches to form a coherent entity that melds improvisation and composition in a unique fashion. Their elaborate length leads to progressive structures featuring ferocious solo passages by all involved. Vibraphonist Joel Ross is highlighted in the mix and forms a fitting sonic counterpart to the piano. Both players go about interpreting their harmonic roles in very different manners and thereby create an intriguing friction.

Calls for Action is an accomplished debut outing. It's a more than promising statement to what Raghavan's future might hold for today's stream of jazz music and sets him apart from many of his peers. At the same time the album blends right in to the canon of contemporary jazz highlights from a younger generation (Scopes or Walter Smith III & Matthew Stevens' In Common, for instance) which has found a home over at Whirlwind Recordings.

Track Listing: Intro; Newe; Los Angeles; Sangeet; I'll Go and Come Back; Caged; Seaminer; The Meters; 4560 Round Trip; Shift; Lunatico; Junior; Calls For Action; Seven; AS.

Personnel: Harich Raghavan: bass; Joel Ross: vibraphone; Kweku Sumbry: drums; Micah Thomas; Immanuel Wilkins: saxophone.

Title: Calls For Action | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Whirlwind Recordings

Saburo K, Saitama, Japan.

Josiah Everhart: Yearn in Years

Video game soundtracks immerse players by provoking a strong emotional response, either in the cozyness of a welcoming melody, the eerie dread of cold synths or the encouraging energy of an upbeat jazzy theme.

Given how versatile and emotional this music can be for those who grow up with it, it is no surprise that Josiah Everhart, a singer-songwriter who began his musical career by posting covers of songs from video games on YouTube, would make an album like Yearn in Years. Everhart's debut full-length album almost perfectly captures the appeal of the music he covers and establishes his unique voice as a songwriter, creating a final product just as catchy as it is heartbreaking.

After years of posting his folksy reinterpretations of songs from classic video games online, the Oregon-native released his first collection of original music, the seven-track album Songs Come and Gone, (Self Produced) in 2017. While the material on Songs Come and Gone delivered a similar sound to his covers, with minimal instrumentation and intimate vocals, Yearn in Years represents a complete evolution of his sound, using grand instrumental palettes and generous effects to create more theatrical and engrossing songs.

Opener "Dead Moons" establishes Everhart's more lavish sound with a dark synth jam soaked in atmospheric effects and airy vocals. The track's repetitive chords and stiff programmed drums could easily become stale if not for the track's eerie and somber soundscape, which complements Everhart's moody, vaguely sci-fi lyrics with ghostly vocal harmonies and synths.

The album's dynamic and detailed production reaches its peak on "Hey, Mister," where the core acoustic arpeggios, spacey drums and soft bass are elevated with glorious layers of backing harmonies and watery slide guitar licks. The track elevates its simple structure with a surprising compositional move in the midsection, introducing brighter chords and delicate atmospherics in a twist reminiscent of Radiohead's songwriting on tracks like "Let Down." "Hey, Mister" ends with one last added layer of distant electric guitar, bringing this intricate soundscape to an epic conclusion.

Unfortunately, the one track where the album's spacey production becomes muddy is on the closer, "Without." After opening with beautiful splashes of muffled guitars, the song builds with layers of soft synths and a simple beat into a chorus so washed out that all the cymbal crashes and bright synths melt together. The short three minutes of "Without" does not quite provide enough time to build up to such a climax, resulting in a track that feels messy.

Even when the production falters, Everhart's confessional and poetic songwriting keeps the album entertaining and potent. Although Everhart has always had a knack for writing lovely, melancholy songs, his work on Yearn in Years takes a much darker and more personal turn, using lavish sounds to highlight uncompromisingly honest lyrics.

On its surface, "I Just Want To" is a happy song, using a bossa nova groove, warm keyboards, cheerful vocal harmonies and bouncy synth tones to create an instant earworm. And the song's title seems to suggest some quaint topic Everhart had addressed before, like longing for love or the innocence of childhood.

Instead, Everhart sings about losing the will to live, painting a bleak picture of a struggle to find motivation and hope. He belts out lyrics about not being able to get out of bed and calls being abandoned and left in a gutter "more than I deserve." The contrast between the carefree instrumental and crushing lyrics make "I Just Want To" gut-wrenching at times and darkly funny in others, but always a beautiful and courageous artistic statement.

Everhart follows this track with the bittersweet "Moons of Jupiter," which pairs achingly gorgeous vocal melodies with sparkling acoustic arpeggios, soft synth tones and a spacey programmed drum beat. The song's serene escapism, realized through dreamy harmonies and a lovely saxophone solo from jazz multi-instrumentalist and fellow YouTube musician Carlos Eiene, makes Everhart's lyrics about lost love and death even more impactful.

Although its production can seem amatuer at times, Yearn in Years is an endlessly replayable folk and singer-songwriter triumph that brings Josiah Everhart's unique voice far beyond the shadow of the composers he covers.

Track Listing: Dead Moons; Rewind; The Pines; Hey, Mister; Still Spinning; Never Hear; I Just Want To; Moons of Jupiter; Anyhow; Without.

Personnel: Josiah Everhart: guitar, synths and vocals; Austin Perrilloux: drums; Richard Bichler: electric guitar; Carlos Eiene: tenor saxophone; Amie Waters: synths.

Title: Yearn in Years | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Self Produced

Saburo K, Saitama, Japon.

Burak Bedikyan: Istanbul Junction

Istanbul-born and New York-based pianist Burak Bedikyan is an inventive composer and intelligent improviser with a subtle touch. His fifth release, the intimate and cinematic Istanbul Junction, showcases his talents fully as he leads a new band through nine of his captivating originals.

The album's overall ambience is dramatic and darkly-hued, and the various tracks expand within it with vibrant poetry. The main theme of "Moods," for example, consists of expectant and simmering refrains. These progress into an intriguing and serpentine melody out of which emerge Bedikyan's dense chords, forming an elegant and crystalline improvisation. Hungarian saxophonist Gabor Bolla contributes a warm, sinewy solo which is yearning and emotive, and fades seamlessly into the closing head.

Middle Eastern influences delightfully color some of the music, like the tender and wistful "Toprak"; it starts with Bedikyan's resonant and sparse notes which the band's undulating refrains follow. Over Turkish drummer Can Kozlu's rustling lithe beats and American bassist Matthew Hall's reverberating thumps Bedikyan's extemporization expands with simmering lines. Bolla's eloquent and bittersweet tenor mirrors Bedkyan in spontaneity and lyricism.

Equally engrossing is the charmingly angular "Innerview (For Ayse)" which finds Bedikyan, unaccompanied, flirting with dissonance. The tune itself is deeply introspective and passionate with overlapping chords and breathtaking cascades which demonstrate Bedikyan's virtuosity on the keys.

Bedikyan pays homage to one of his idols, the ingenious 20th century composer Olivier Messiaen, on the moving and mellifluous "L'ombre Lumineuse." The piece eschews overtly Western Classical phraseology and is more akin to a jazz ballad. Kozlu's sparkling percussion and Hall's agile lines form a restless and supportive rhythmic framework. Bedikyan infuses his pianism with a bittersweet melancholy while Bolla builds an intricate extemporization with graceful facility and raw emotion. The ensemble concludes with a sublimely synergistic performance.

Istanbul Junction is a cohesive work, and a high point of Bedikyan's superb career. As Kozlu points out in the liner notes, Bedikyan has singularly fused various traditions into a personal artistic statement. The record is, perhaps, his most mature and unique to date.

Track Listing: Particles; Moods; Toprak; Aquarian; Valentine; Reminiscence; Innerview (for Ayse); L'ombre Lumineuse (Dedicated To Olivier Messiaen); Postlude.

Personnel: Burak Bedikyan: piano; Matthew Hall: bass; Can Kozlu: drums; Gabor Bolla: tenor sax

Title: Istanbul Junction | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Steeplechase Lookout

Saburo K, Saitama, Japon.