Koka Mass Jazz is the artistic nickname of Konstantin Katsarski – a musician known for his work with the Bluba Lu and Lepra de Luxe bands. He composes, he is a DJ, he plays the drums and keyboards. Koka Mass Jazz gives the name of Konstantin’s new project. The Groovy Jam Shoes is the debut album, which we will present in advance. It will be officially released on March 31. We will hear the pilot piece – Smile. It was selected among Top 2014 songs of the British CRS Radio.

Konstantin tells us on his start with Koka Mass Jazz:

“It actually began as a project in 2013, when I completed the first recordings, but the idea was an old one. Acid jazz, funk, soul – that has been my music since my childhood. My father was the first to push me into that direction. We would listen together to the BNR Around Midnight jazz show. I began playing the piano at about 6, but I got keen on drums as early as my first performances and I continued with the class of Dobri Paliev. Hristo Yotsov /a jazzman, drummer and composer/ was further on my teacher. I found it important to create my own sound in the compositions, included in the album of Koka Mass Jazz. I wanted it to stand out at the background of all these funk and soul pieces, created through the years. Original drum and bass sound is the hardest thing to achieve. The Groovy Jam Shoes album has 12 tracks. The music and arrangements are my own, Denitsa Georgieva – Sikhaya wrote the lyrics. It was recorded with friends and musicians Georgi Yanev /guitar/, Petko Slavov /bass/ Bobi Strukarski /bass/, Martin Tashev /trumpet/, Dimitar Liolev /saxophone/ and Milen Kukosharov /piano/. My father also plays bass in it. Denitsa is to be blamed for the vocals – we met her after her participation in a TV music show in 2009. The Koka Mass Jazz project started as an instrumental one, but the initial idea changed after I invited her to take part in a composition. She wrote lyrics for the first time and was happy with that freedom of expression. We have been touring with concerts since 2013. We prepare a promo of the album with guest musicians, one of them arriving from the US especially for the project. We will also present the project in Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas. The concert dates are published on our Facebook webpage.”

“I have never placed any boundaries in my music and I have never thought on a local scale,” Konstantin Katsarski goes on to say. “Our tracks were included in the compilation of LTJ Bukem as early as 2004, it was named Earth 007 for the English label – Good looking Records. The Polish RAM 6 radio has released a compilation with our music, we also had concerts there. We signed a contract with the Austrian label of Kruder and Dorfmaister, names on the electronic stage. They released our Groove Euroope album. Now the US Cold Busted Records is our producer. I opted for it, since we signed not only a contract for a CD and a 12-inch vinyl, but also for 50 limited copies of tapes. The instrumental versions of the songs are included in the album. Three weeks ago Cold Busted Records released the initial 5 plates – the most precious ones to the fans. Those were sold really quickly and we received nice feedback.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev