The American Jazz Institute

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Milcho Leviev, Solo Piano

AJI is pleased to spotlight the piano artistry of Milcho Leviev in this rare solo performance.

Saturday
April 12, 2003 8:00pm
Scripps College Balch Auditorium
Free Admission

TERRY LEWIS & RON TEEPLES, photographers

Milcho was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, December 19, 1937. He received musical training from the earliest days of childhood, primarily from his aunt, a professional pianist, and her husband, a choir conductor. Later, his formal education in music was attained from the Bulgarian State Music Academy (in Sofia) where he graduated in 1960 with a Masters Degree in Composition. In the early 60s he was musical director for the state drama theater and the Bulgarian radio and television big band.

His early international acclaim as a jazz performer came from leading the Jazz Focus

quartet from 1965 through 1969. That group was a prize winner at the first Montreux festival in 1967. In addition to piano performance, Milcho remained active as a composer, experimenting with music that was performed by both classical and jazz ensembles. Among his early compositions was Music for Big Band and Symphony Orchestra (1966).

While in West Germany in 1970, Milcho defected from communist Bulgaria. He worked briefly with Albert Mangelsdorff, and then in 1971 moved to Los Angeles where he ultimately became a US citizen (1977). During this period, Milcho was a key member of the highly regarded Don Ellis Orchestra. His piano virtuosity and ability to play effortlessly in odd meters -- a skill that arose from familiarity with Bulgarian folk music -- were major contributions to the fruitful association with Ellis. In addition to playing piano in the Ellis Orchestra, Milcho composed and arranged, finding considerable rapport with Ellis’s imaginative use of complex time signatures and incorporation of ethnic musical concepts. He contributed two chapters to Don Ellis’s The New Rhythm Book.

Milcho also worked with Willie Bobo (1973-4), John Klemmer (1975-9), and recorded an

album with I. Subramaniam (1979), three albums with Billy Cobham (1974-5), and worked with Airto Moreira and Roy Haynes. In 1980, he recorded in London as the leader of a bop quartet that included Art Pepper. Together they made the very impressive albums: Blues For The Fisherman and True Blues. This famous quartet regularly recorded live at Ronnie Scott’s Club in London. Milcho ably mixed the odd-metered tunes of his Bulgarian background with an excellent post-bop piano technique.

In the early ‘80s, Milcho worked with diverse groups: Manhattan Transfer (for whom he arranged Parker’s “Confirmation”), wrote arrangements for and recorded with Al Jarreau, and founded the famous jazz quartet Free Flight. That group featured a fusion of jazz, rock, and classical music. During the Free Flight period, Milcho also performed and recorded as a member of Gerald Wilson’s big band.

One of Milcho Leviev’s most impressive associations was formed with Charlie Haden. This duo recorded the memorable album The Oracle – Live at Suntory Hall in Japan. He continues to work frequently with many all-star jazz musicians in Los Angeles and elsewhere, playing with Ray Pizzi, Ray Brown, Buddy Collette, Oscar Brashear, and Mundell Lowe. In the early ‘90s, Milcho did numerous solo European tours, and in 1995 received an honorary doctorate and award on merit from the Paris Academie Internationale des Arts. Presently, Milcho Leviev is a lecturer on jazz composition and improvisation at the University of Southern California and frequently performs with The American Jazz Institute ensembles.

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