The Hristo Vitchev Ouintet\/

T\ ' t'\Dv lravls t-,ruse

TT /e are all very fortunate to live

\ A / on the central coast, not onlyY Y because of the beautiful

weather and scenery but also because weare fortunate enough to have such anabundance of talent ia our communigz.Modern jazz gurtaist [Iristo Vitchev isone of those local talents. Origrnallyfrom Bulgaria, he currently resides inSan Jose and is one of the Bay Area'smost prominent musicians. I was fortu-nate enough to catch one ofhis sets atthe 55rd Monterey Jazz Festival,where he unveiled his brand new master-ful composition, The Perperikon Suite. OnOctober 4, I was even more forfunate tosee him perform the suite in its entiret;zwith a quintet including vibraphonistextraordinaire Christian Tirmburr.Accompanying him in his quintet wereSanta Cruz's most in demand bassistDan Robbins, Joe DeRose of San Joseand Brazilian pianist Weber Iago.Together they create a beautiful mesh ofworld influences that is labeled modern

)azz,bttt is hardly limited to any onegenre.

The Perperikon Suite is a seven move-ment piece that is named after theancient cigr in Hristo's home countryof Bulgaria and each movement isnamed after a part of the ciqz. Thesuite begins with a piece entitled "TheStone Passage" that opens with darkambient tones from Weber's piano andthen abruptly jumps into angularmelodies before it continues into abeautiful jazz waltz reminiscent of PatMetheny. Each title eloquentlydescribes each movement, which trulyrounded it out as an irnpressionisticpiece of art. Not only was each move-ment beautiful on its own right, togeth-er they created a tone that was distinctbecause of the composition.

Often times there were motifs thatwere repeated throughout the entiresuite that connected each movementthat again created a continuiqz thattookyou to another place. The addi-tion of the vibes (which he doesn't nor-mally have) provides a classic jazzsound that roots the modern complexharmonies to traditional jazz. Jazz is aconstantly evolwing art form but it isextremely important to honor yourroots, which Hristo manages to doeffortlessly.

Each musician was able to take asolo, or as we say in the jazz world a"chorus," on each tune which reallyallowed us to truly see the scope of allof them. Hristo has a very distinctsound on the guitar that is very diffi-cult to achieve since it seems as ifeveryone plays guitar these days. Heplays a custom made DMT guitarmade in Albany, California that Ibelieve adds a lot to his sound. But onething that you will hear if you hangout around guitarists is that tone isn't

in your gear but inyour hands. Hristohas a unique voicebecause of hisattack on theinstrument pro-vides a beautifulpresence of d;rnam-ics that is so lack-ing in the mono-tone world of pop-ular music.

Together thegroup creates dis-tinct music that theaudience can stillrelate to andappreciate. Withthe combination of

rock influences, world and traditionaljazz, anyone can go to one of HristoVitchev's shows and find somethingthat they enjoy. He will be releasingthe Perperikon Suite on an album some-time early nextyear and will also beperforming at Studio Pink House inSaratoga with Weber Iago. I encour-age you strongly to see him performespecial\r since The Studio PinkHouse concert is free with a $ l0 rec-ommended donation. Ifyou are furtherinterested in Hristo Vitchev you canvisit his website at wvvw.hris-tovitchev.com where you can seewhere he's playing next, read his bio,listen to and purchase his music andeven buy his book. However, if HristoVitchev's wonderful music isn't yourcup of tea, at least make an effort tosupport other local musicians thatappeal to you more. Just like how it'simportant to shop local, it's also irnpor-tant to listen local!Travfu Cru"tew w w. t rav i.t c rut e. weeb ly. co m

Out & About o November 2010 25