Istanbul-born with Armenian lineage pianist/composer Burak Bedikyan immigrated to USA in 2017 with his young family and has resided in NYC since. Despite the succession of highly acknowledged releases before and after his move to the new world Bedikyan’s career was forced to put on a hold because of the pandemic. He literally stopped playing for almost eight months. This release here is a by-product of commission project from Turkey’s oldest jazz festival which jolted him from his existential crisis. Here you’ll find Bedikyan in a new light and with a new direction he discovered during this soul-searching sabbatical. “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.” (Hrayr Attarian – AAJ on SCCD 33139 Istanbul Junction)