With a powerful technique flowing from the McCoy Tyner sound decorated with gestures towards Eastern modality while also drawing on the tradition of the Romantic composers the arranging and quartet’s spatial awareness always lets the music breathe here.
Pianist Burak Bedikyan is joined on this album by saxophonist Chris Cheek, Love-In bassist Ron McClure and by drummer Billy Drummond. And on opener ‘Astral Traveller,’ listen to a live version of the tune featuring a different drummer Shareef Taher above Cheek on soprano saxophone makes a poignant contribution in what is the best tune of the whole affair. And this is no fluke as the quality is strong despite a little dropping off in momentum in places.
A year-and-a-half on from his debut album Circle of Life made with a completely different band Bediklyan’s bebop hinterland is alluded to on his tinkling scamper through ‘Hommage à Bud et Francis’ where Cheek having switched to tenor sax completes the Turk’s musical sentences before settling into a big-hearted run of his own.
Bedkiyan isn’t afraid to enter the more experimental avant sphere which he does notably on ‘Hydrogen Atom’ so there’s plenty of imaginative flair at play here to retain prolonged interest, Leap of Faith casting a spell that’s hard to break even with much repeated play.
UK/Ireland release: 9 February
Stephen Graham