Album Notes

“Vitchev’s sophisticated and adventurous work is imbued with shimmering harmonies and lyrical improvisations.” – JAZZTIMES MAGAZINE

"Hristo Vitchev may be one of the best kept secrets in jazz today." - DIGITAL JAZZ NEWS

“A richly textured album full of strong melodic and rhythmic ideas and with some superb playing throughout.” – THE JAZZ MANN (England)

Hristo Vitchev is a modern jazz guitarist and composer from Sofia, Bulgaria. Now residing in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hristo leads his modern jazz quartet which features the Latin Grammy-nominated pianist Weber Iago, drummer extraordinaire Joe De Rose, and virtuoso bassist Dan Robbins. Hristo has toured nationally and internationally with a wide variety of formations and has also performed guitar clinics in Europe and Japan. He has written more than 270 original compositions, many articles on jazz improvisation, and a book on chordal theory and construction entitled Between the Voicings: A New Approach to Chord Building for Guitarists. The Hristo Vitchev Quartet’s 2009 debut album, Song for Messambria (First Orbit Sounds Music) quickly received outstanding reviews by the international jazz community and was selected as one of the six best jazz albums of 2009 by E-JAZZ NEWS.

JAZZ.COM – by Bill Barnes.

It’s immensely satisfying to come across a fresh, emerging talent who doesn’t attempt to re-discover fire, but demonstrates a knack for turning up the heat. With clear, dewy tones and thoughtfully crafted lines, Vitchev gently caresses the strings while seducing the listener’s ears with intriguing harmonization. “Parisian Skies” is a buoyant, if slightly bittersweet composition, played with an assured Latin feel and just enough rhythmic support to propel things along without getting in the way of Vitchev’s richly melodic solo. Pianist Iago cooks a satisfying chorus with ample backing from Robbins and De Rose. These Parisian skies are warm and clear.

E-JAZZ NEWS.COM – by Edward Blanco.

Vitchev is the newest guitarist to enter the national jazz scene and does so with a stunner of a recording in “Song For Messambria,” one of the finest debut albums I've had the pleasure of appraising this year. Hristo Vitchev's impressive “Song For Messambria” is an introspective view of modern jazz containing creative melodies and beautiful harmonies designed to embrace the tender side of the music producing a sound that is bound to capture broad appeal.


E-JAZZ NEWS.COM – by John Stevenson.

Undoubtedly one of the more impressive CDs of the year from a virtual unknown, Bulgarian-born, San Francisco-based Vitchev is the guitarist to watch. Clearly gifted with a grasp of the jazz guitar’s many nuances, he writes probing and meditative melodies that linger long in the ear. The Pat Metheny-Egberto Gismonti-Jim Hall-factor appears to have had a strong influence. The passion, fluidity and enormous harmonic resourcefulness of bassist Dan Robbins, Zen-like pianist Iago Weber, and percussive master Joe De Rose rings through on all selections, especially the title track, “Waltz for Iago” and “The Road to Naklabeht.”