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Release Date: 04 September 2026
Label: Jazz Plus / Dukyan Meloman
Packaging Type: Slip Sleeve (CD or Vinyl)
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 6429830258940
Genres: Jazz
Description
Milcho Leviev's last solo piano album, Quiet March (2015), a live studio recording in front of a small group of friends and now reissued on vinyl as Letter to America.
Milcho Leviev (1937-2019) was a trailblazing Bulgarian pianist, composer, and arranger celebrated for seamlessly fusing traditional Bulgarian folk rhythms with jazz. Born in Plovdiv, he served as the chief conductor of the Bulgarian National Radio Big Band and formed the award-winning Jazz Focus '65 jazz band.
Alongside his stage career, Leviev revolutionised Bulgarian cinema during the 1960's by introducing a pronounced jazz sound that broke away from conventional Soviet style orchestration. His modal compositions and atmospheric folk arrangements became structural pillars for iconic movies like Torrid Noon (1965) and Detour (1967).
His lifelong relationship with the screen culminated in his final solo piano studio recording, Quiet March (2015) - reissued here on vinyl as Letter to America - where he stripped his most enduring cinematic melodies from the film of the same name down to their rawest, most intimate essence.
Faced with mounting restrictions, Leviev defected to Los Angeles in 1970, prompting the state to systematically erase his name from domestic film credits. Abroad, he built a prolific international career collaborating with jazz legends like Don Ellis, Billy Cobham, and Art Pepper with whom he toured as the quartet's pianist between 1980 and 1982.
Pepper praised him as one of his most intuitive and sympathetic musical partners, and their collaboration includes a legendary set of live recordings from Ronnie Scott's Club in London. Due to Pepper's restrictive contract with his record company, the sessions were released under Milcho's name as The Milcho Leviev Quartet featuring Art Pepper: Blues for the Fisherman and True Blues.
Tracklisting
Milcho Leviev
Wladigeroff Brothers
Acoustic Version
Wladigeroff Brothers
Milcho Leviev
Acoustic Version
Bob James
Various Artists
Ray Obiedo
Brian Bromberg
Mongo Santamaria
