October 27-29, Plovdiv will once again be playing host to Plovdiv Jazz Fest – for the 9^th time. “The festival has developed into a pleasurable, meaningful celebration of jazz – a chamber, boutique festival, where people listen to and hear the music,” says the forum’s director Miroslava Katsarova. Among the musicians from Bulgaria, Austria, the US and Brazil who will be performing at the festival there is one Grammy winner and 24 musicians who have been nominated for this prestigious award. Jazz fans will be able to hear one of the finest jazz pianists Joey Calderazzo (on 29 October), plus eleven-time Grammy nominee saxophone player Miguel Zenón, three superb jazz guitarists – Julian Lage, Wolfgang Muthspiel and Chiko Pineiro, Italian pianist and singer Francesca Tandoi and the remarkable duet Vesselin Vesselinov “Eko” and Milen Kukosharov - Das Weltschmerz Duett.

There will be two concerts at 8 PM every festival night at the Boris Christoff culture house in the city. Parallel with this, the focus will be on instrumental jazz, jazz guitar and chamber concerts.

On the first night – Friday, 27 October – double bass player Vesselin Vesselinov “Eko”, who turns 60 this year, will receive an award for lifetime achievement in jazz.

One of the accompanying events precedes the opening of the festival – at 7.30 PM on 26 October, at Radio Plovdiv’s Studio No. 1, pianist Dimitar Bodurov will celebrate his name-day with a concert by the Bodurov trio.

Dimitar Bodurov is a Bulgarian-born jazz pianist who lives and works in the Netherlands. Greatly influenced by Bulgarian folklore, he combines it with music from classical compositions. One such example is his rendition of a Bulgarian folk song – Lale li si, zyumbyul li si – a piece called Tulip from Bodurov Trio’s album from 2008 Stamps from Bulgaria.

Editing by Dilyana Tracheva

Translated and posted by Milena Daynova

Photos: plovdivjazzfest.com