One of the greatest pianists and composers in the history of jazz music Thelonious Sphere Monk is an idol for generations of musicians. In his successful music career in Bulgaria and France, Mario Stanchev has always performed his pieces. It turns out that Thelonious Monk has greatly influenced Mario Stanchev’s development as pianist and composer. That is why he decided to dedicate a long-desired project on him. The music from Monk and More album will be recorded in Studio 1 of the Bulgarian National Radio.

Monk and several other great composers are my teachers, Mario Stanchev says. I studied his music for a long time and at one point, I realized that imitation makes no sense. Everyone can hear the original. If you want to show your respect for someone, you have to rethink his music and break it through your essence. I have been playing with this great jazzman for a long time. Years ago, we presented in Bulgaria a programme with his pieces together with Veselin Veselinov-Eko (double bass) and Dimitar Semov (percussions). I was very happy, because he was accepted well by the audience. Back then, I still believed that I had to perform his original music. Over time, I experienced things differently and decided to associate his pieces with my compositions. I have long dreamt of recording a CD where I master all components – music, musicians and place. I invited two musicians I respect a lot and I played a lot with in Bulgaria and France – Hristo Yotsov (percussions) and Dimitar Karamfilov (double bass). I sent them the demo of the music and some scores. We make rehearsals, recordings and if everything goes well we will release the disc in France. The music programme has a common scenario and there is one connecting line between Monk’s pieces and my music. Artists always doubt. Well, not all of them. There are also many self-confident people, but I am not one of them. That is why it is important to have someone who shows confidence in what you do and urge you to follow your ideas.  Hristo Yotsov has long asked me to record something serious and the moment has come. That is why I make recordings with these wonderful musicians. They have the quality to stick to the idea of the leader and at the same time express themselves freely, which is typical of the greatest musicians only. The music of this non-commercial project is very difficult. This music is too personal to appeal to people immediately. Recently I played at the Jazz à Fareins festival near the city of Lyon in France dedicated to traditional jazz. I have known its artistic director for a very long time and asked him to invite Bulgarian jazz singer Yildiz Ibrahimova and percussionist Stoyan Yankoulov-Stundji and take a risk by offering my own compositions, which are far from traditional jazz. We scored great success! I hope Monk and More will reach as many people as possible.

Mario Stanchev’s new project consists of works composed earlier, but some were written in recent months. After the recordings at the Bulgarian National Radio Mario Stanchev trio will hold concerts in Club Studio 5 in Sofia (on January 27) and Bee Bop Cafe in Plovdiv (on January 28).

English version: Kostadin Atanasov