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Plamen Karadonev

Plamen’s career in music begins at the age of 12 featuring recordings and performances of Bulgarian folk on the national television (Sofia, Bulgaria) Later on he falls in love with jazz and other contemporary styles and starts performing with local bands. During his high school years Plamen participates at a number of jazz festivals and concerts. Throughout his studies at the Academy of Music, Sofia, Bulgaria Plamen is also chosen as a pianist of The National Radio Big Band- Sofia, Bulgaria. A Berklee international scholarship tour brings Plamen to Boston where he founds a whole new world of musical adventures Here in the States Plamen has performed with artists such as Gene Perla, George Garzone, Hal Crook , Jimmy Cobb, Dave Liebman and many others.

Influences include Eastern European folklore, Classical music including some 20th century composers, Jazz and other contemporary styles.

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90
Album Review

Plamen Karadonev: Crossing Lines

Read "Crossing Lines" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone


Plamen Karadonev is a very likeable new pianist on the Boston scene. Originally from Bulgaria, he likes to combine his native folk and classical music with American jazz on his stimulating debut, Crossing Lines.

The album is not without surprises, including the partial presence of Boston's George Garzone who gives a lesson or two on the way to bring tenor saxophone into play, as well as former Phil Woods trombonist Hal Crook, who brings along the electrified trom-o-tizer. ...

95
Album Review

Plamen Karadonev: Crossing Lines

Read "Crossing Lines" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson


Pianist and accordionist Plamen Karadonev has been down more than a few musical roads in his comparatively young life--playing folk music on television and radio in his native Bulgaria, studying classical music in Sofia, studying jazz at Berklee, gigging around Boston--and many of these meanderings are echoed in the varied music presented on Crossing Lines, his début recording.Three particularly strong moments serve to chart the territory represented on this record. First, there are the “outside" tracks, among which ...

123
Album Review

Plamen Karadonev: Crossing Lines

Read "Crossing Lines" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Plamen Karadonev is a multifaceted artist who began playing accordion when he was five, in his native Bulgaria. At first he was interested in Bulgarian folk music, but expanded his horizons to play the piano, listen to jazz and meld it with his native folk music when he was in his teens. A scholarship to Berklee took him to the United States, where he began playing with several jazz musicians. The experience honed his skills as a pianist, evidence of ...

293
Album Review

Plamen Karadonev: Crossing Lines

Read "Crossing Lines" reviewed by Budd Kopman


Crossing Lines, the debut recording by pianist Plamen Karadonev (who also plays accordion), is a marvelous and continually surprising creation. While the music is mainstream at its base, it continually veers into complex harmonies and dramatic structures, bringing excitement and a delicious sense of danger.What might appear as a sudden supernova, Karadonev, who is now thirty, began his musical career twenty years ago in Bulgaria, melding folk, classical and jazz musics into his personal style. Arriving at the ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Keep Swingin'

Outside in Music
2024

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Crossing Lines

Mu Records
2008

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