Stantchev, Mario
Monk And More
In my project Monk and More, I pay tribute to his genius. Without imitating him. Any repetition is useless, and true fans will agree: one prefers to listen to the original rather than the followers! But I remain faithful to what caused the shock of the past: the spirit of his music. I try. I'm not sure Monk would have liked it. Like any true genius, he was immersed in the world he had created. A world that has since inspired many musicians. We rekindle the torch with our own fuel. Hence this Monk and More, understood of course not as "and more", but as "and more". Among Monk's compositions, I have included four of my own. I am not trying to reproduce the style of the Master. Lovers of Thelonious will recognize the imprint he has left on me, despite the differences between our musical worlds! I am happy to have recorded this music in the city of my birth, Sofia, in the exceptional conditions of the Bulgarian National Radio. I was surrounded by these two magnificent musicians, Hristo Yotsov and Dimitar Karamfilov, who understood the message and adhered to it completely.