Distant Dreams

30 years ago a young vibraphonist dreamt of the Berklee College of Music and the school of Gary Burton. A few days ago he discovered the same vibraphone in the same studio on the BNR, where he recorded his demo for Berklee at the time. This time he brought with him another of his albums, with words of dedication writeen on the cover by this same Gary Burton. Does this mean the Errol has made his dreams come true?

The answers are not simple, just like the names of his compositions and also of his inspirations. A song, sung by Errol's mother turns into the main character of a documentary (Whose Is That Song? by Adela Peeva). We rediscover it as "Bosphorus" in the album. The store of the hungry little Roma guys and their parents, dreaming of an oven where they can bake a griddle-cake comes to life in a colorful instrumental fuzz in "The Dream of the Little Gypsy." The first teacher of Errol-Dobri Paliev hasn't beeen forgotten either. The traditional song "Todora" is dedicated to him.

Alongside Errol we see two other jazzmen-bass player Pepi Slavov and Lyubomir Gospodinov on tenor and soprano sax. The other part of the band consists of Cuban musicians-migrants to Miami, where Errol lives and teaches in several universitites. Martin Bejerano is a pianist with whom Errol has already been recording; he has also selected drummer Ludwig Afonso and alt-saxophone player David Leon. Errol had his concerns about the eventual 'stepping over' of Ban folklore's uneven beats with Cuban rhythms, but even the initial recording made those worries disappear-the so needed balance of the classical jazz-piano trio was a fact. Still, it provided maximum freedom to the soloing vibraphone, marimba and saxophones.

The American critics were unanimous-the band would continue to cast its spell through time. Travis Rogers, JR. commented as follows: "This is a group to be enjoyed for years and years. The right personalities and skill-sets and talents have coalesced into one of the finest debut albums of recent memory."