Milcho Leviev

Milcho Leviev merges the distinctive pulses of Bulgarian folk traditions with spontaneous jazz phrasing on both piano and keyboards. During the 1970s he served in Don Ellis’s orchestra, and over subsequent decades he appeared as a sideman alongside Billy Cobham, Art Pepper and Al Jarreau while directing the jazz-rock ensemble Free Flight through the 1980s; he has sustained these border-crossing explorations ever since. Alongside his own trio, which includes bassist Jamie Faust and drummer Dick Weller, Leviev has appeared in the Leviev-Slon Quartet with drummer Claudio Slon, bassist Mark Simon and percussionist Cassio Duarte, and he has also performed in the Jamie Faust Trio.

After completing studies at the Bulgarian State Music Academy, Leviev assumed the roles of pianist and director for the Bulgarian Radio and Television Big Band in the middle of the 1960s. He later spent time in Germany, where he collaborated with Albert Mangelsdorff.

Prompted by trumpeter and bandleader Don Ellis, Leviev moved to the United States in 1971 and became an essential contributor to Ellis’s large ensemble for several years. After departing Ellis in 1977, he recorded and toured with numerous figures in jazz and fusion. In 1980 he established Free Flight, devoting the next three years to blending jazz and rock elements.