Famous and loved themes of works by Puccini, Tchaikovsky and Shuman have inspired the new album of Angel Zaberski Jr. and his trio. December 2 is the opening night at the concert studio of Radio Plovdiv and the event is a part of the 5^th edition of Chamber Stage – Plovdiv. The pieces in the album begin with short quotations from the original works, gifting the listener with a few seconds of the authentic cracking noise of the old recordings. Next comes the style of jazz in such a natural manner that it looks like a bright and fresh game. The entire collection could be easily named Tribute to Romanticism, but the author opted for Like Jazz.

What is the place of the new album in the rich collection of the prominent Bulgarian jazz pianist and composer – here is what he answers:

“I see this as a personal achievement above all. Each new project should be a step up along the endless spiral of music. I recorded the pieces with Stoyan Yankulov – drums and Boris Taslev – contrabass. We often play together and I can rely on them a lot. Like Jazz is our second album, after one named Reflections, released two years ago. This time I decided to grab some serious music. There are three pieces on Puccini’s themes, two from the Turandot and Bohemians operas, while the third one is a relatively unknown piece for string orchestra. It is called Chrysanthemums and is from his early artistic period with some Slavonic influences, in my opinion. Years ago my father advised me to listen to it a bit, but I didn’t. Then later on I came upon this piece all by chance and fell in love with it. Tchaikovsky is presented with Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker and a slow, really Slav theme from his Sixth Symphony. I tried not to change the music of the composers. Of course, I have used jazz harmony mainly, but the main thematic material is preserved. I do like the word aesthetics and even in my everyday life I try to keep this aesthetic attitude towards everything I do. The sense of measure is the most important thing about aesthetics – in both life and music. Once you cross the border your efforts turn into an end in itself and are worthless.”

A few months ago Angel Zaberski Jr. was part of another project with similar charge – Classics Meets Jazz, presented by four prominent Bulgarian pianists at the National Palace of Culture. The success of that concert gave birth to the idea on a kind of a Christmas encore of the show. Mr. Zaberski Jr. gives us more details on it:

“On December 20 we will repeat Classics Meets Jazz thanks to our friends from the NPC. There will be new accents this time – popular Christmas songs. I am currently working on the arrangements. Besides the four royal pianos onstage there will be a big string orchestra, compiled by students from the Lyubomir Pipkov National School of Music in Sofia.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev