Hristo Vitchev Quartet

| In Search Of Wonders | First Orbit Sounds/Birdland FOSM272

At first Hristo Vitchev sounds like many another pretty jazz guitarist, but listen a little more closely and a remarkable translucence is in play. Beneath the pastel-hued surface the music is flecked with dazzling harmonic and rhythmic inventions; with intense bursts of energy and drama. Bulgarian-born California-based Vitchev pens compositions with fascinating shifts of mood and direction, fifteen of which comprise this double album. He has also assembled what sounds like a dream band. Jasnam Daya Singh ( aka Weber Iago) is almost like Vitchev’s alter ego on piano, his improvisations teeming with episodes of melodic opulence. Bassist Dan Robbins and drummer Mike Shannon supply rigorous precision in the challenging arrangements, and then sudden fireworks, whether behind Vitchev and Singh or in their own features. for improvising. Checkpoint Charlie has jolting rhythmic switchbacks with the teasing release of a mid-tempo swing, and then some flying piano from Carrothers when the time doubles. By contrast the title track is a floating world of mysteries, partly underpinned by a chant-like bass ostinato, and the drifting Just at Sunset sees Brady writing lyrics, one of four songs sung by the peerless Norma Winstone.