Burak Bedikyan - BE-ING (2023)

Burak Bedikyan’s many gifts as a pianist, improvisor and composer shine particularly brightly on his solo piano album “Being”, comprised completely of fully improvised pieces. Burak’s training as a classical and a jazz pianist and his obvious interest in a wide range of musical styles, from the broad history of jazz piano to the far broader palette of music composed for the piano since the Baroque era, informs his musical language.

His control of the sound of the piano dynamically, in the breadth of tone color and articulation, in the clarity of his voicings and the differentiation of his linear material heightens the beauty of his spontaneous compositions. Ebullient swing, sometimes just for a few moments, sometimes for complete pieces, characterizes his overall time feel in the jazz realm. The flow between rubato and clear grooving time playing is fascinating to experience; the perennially mysterious “time no time” approach plays a large role in Burak’s expressive world. Sinuous lines sneaking around layers of harmony in all registers leave the listener always wanting to know what’s around the corner, and the predominantly short pieces serve to whet the appetite for the next one.