By a tradition, the National Jazz Meeting in Rousse takes place at the end of November. It is the oldest jazz festival in the country, founded by the legendary saxophone and clarinet player Petar Petrov, known as Parcheto (1932-2013) who continued as its chief organizer until the end of his life. “There are several international jazz forums in Bulgaria now, but my main objective has always been to support Bulgarian performers and to give the young the opportunity they need,” he would say.

The event’s 39^th edition kicked off with a pre-festival night, a patchwork prorgamme entitled Jazz School. Several different formations took part, whose members are students or graduates of the Prof. Vesselin Stoyanov National Art School in the city. They included young musicians who have already made a name for themselves on the Bulgarian jazz scene. Audiences were impressed by the performance of the youngest guitarists Isac Enchev and Assen Stanchev, who played in trio with pianist Nikolay Dimitrov; they performed their own pieces and arrangements. Right after the festival in his home town, 13-year old Nikolay left for New York – the young pianist won two awards in the American Protégé online contest. This enabled him to perform twice in Carnegie Hall, where the award ceremony will take place.

Ilko Petrov (percussion) is a veteran of the stage in Rousse. He took part in the very first jazz meeting. Ilko has been living in Germany for years, but never misses a festival. What are his impressions of the first festival night?

“I was really impressed by Anthony Donchev and his wonderful music", Ilko Petrov shares. "His selection of instrumentalists for his Theatre Band is excellent. Of course, the performances by Vassil Petrov and by Angel Zaberski trio were also very good and were very much appreciated by the audience which gave them a standing ovation. The formation of Ventsi Blagoev (trumpet) featuring Boris Petrov (saxophone) which opened the programme was a really pleasant surprise. The two renowned jazz musicians played with some very young colleagues, brand new names in jazz. Taking a look back to the beginning I see how things have changed, especially when it comes to education. Let me say that the National Music Academy Pop and Jazz Department has done a great deal for young musicians.”

On the second night pianist Tony Zlatanov presented his Golden Project, which features Martin Tashev (trumpet), Dimitar Lyolev (saxophone), Dimitar Karamfilov (double bass) and Emil Pehlivanov (percussion), though there is one more member, who carries just as much weight - artist Doncho Donchev who paints on stage with the camera following every stroke of his brush.

“This is a very good festival, we are happy to have been invited to play here,” says Tony Zlatanov. “Everything is organized so well and this enabled us to perform to the best of our abilities. A few years ago we founded a trio which quickly grew to a quintet. And we met the artist quite by chance – we played at the opening of one of his exhibitions. We quickly found a common language and decided to continue together.”

One of the festival’s most successful events was the concert of the Mario Stanchev trio - their project Autumn Leaves in Sofia merited a long ovation. Here now is the festival’s director Boris Petrov – son of the man who founded it who is eager to continue to promote his ideas:

“This has been one more top-notch edition, we heard incredible musicians perform. On the last night we had two professors on stage – Hristo Yotsov and Mario Stanchev. Mario has carved a successful career for himself in France; the fact that he founded a jazz department at the Conservatoire of Lyon speaks for itself.  I would like to make mention of the anniversaries of two jazz singers we marked here in Rousse – Vassil Petrov’s 50th jubilee and Kamelia Todorova who turned 60 in 2014. I would like to thank Rousse Municipality which has invariably been giving its support to the festival throughout these 39 years. We have also been helped by many of our friends. I would especially like to thank the Ministry of Culture, which had not been granting any money for the event but did so this time. We are now looking ahead to the 40^th edition and we hope it will be even better. The culture club in Rousse as well as the foundation named after my father have been investing a great deal of effort to this aim. We are continuing the tradition and have been following the trail left by him – to support Bulgarian jazz musicians.”

English: Milena Daynova

-  Dumbata, performed by Theatre Band;

-  My way, performed by Vassil Petrov with Angel Zaberski trio;

-  Kasap Do, performed by Mario Stanchev trio.