Ludmil Krumov is a Bulgarian guitarist, tamburist, composer, educator specializing in contemporary jazz, Bulgarian Folk Music and world fusion. His guitar style incorporates wide diversity of techniques such as sweep and alternate picking , rich articulation and dynamic phrasing. Technically fluent, he uses the entire neck of the instrument to play lines involving horizontal and vertical melodic approach, wide intervals and modal diversity in a virtuoso way without compromising musicality. His improvisations incorporate the language of bebop, modern jazz and blues spiced up with eastern European and Balkan ornamentation and complex additive rhythms. Based both on Jazz and Bulgarian folklore music and influenced by other genres and traditions such as Indian, Turkish and Classical Western European, his music works are compositionally challenging, featuring improvisations over sophisticated harmonies in odd meters.
Ludmil began playing piano at the age of six in Svishtov (Bulgaria) where he was born and raised. He grew up in a musician’s family – his father was a saxophonist / trumpeter and provided his son with a music environment from the very beginning of his life. Ludmil began playing guitar when he was 14. He came a long way from playing with pop, blues, rock and dancing entertainment bands, to getting interested in fusion and jazz. In 2001 he was accepted to Berklee College of Music /Boston winning the B.E.S.T. award for original composition. In 2007 he graduated from the Prince Claus Conservatorium / Groningen / the Netherlands. There he studied guitar with Anton Goudsmit, Winfried Bouma, Ron Jackson, Martien Oster, Frank Wingold and Freddie Bryant. In addition to that he had classes and ensembles with the American guest teachers in the school – Conrad Herwig, David Berkman, Brian Lynch, Ralph Peterson, Sam Burtis, Don Braden, Dena De Rose, and Steve Davis. In 2009 Ludmil obtained a Master of music degree from CODARTS Rotterdam, where he studied with Paul Hock, Ronald Schmitz, Ed Verhoeff and Peter Nieuwerf.
Ludmil performed with international jazz artists such as: Branford Marsalis, Ralph Peterson Jr., Ryan Hanseler, Owen hart Jr., David Berkman, Reggie Washington, Yaniv Nachum, Michael Varekamp, Hans Mantel, Lucas Van Merwijk, Joris Teepe, Teodosii Spasov, Peyo Peev, Antoni Donchev, Dimitar Bodurov, Vladimir Karparov, Borislav Petrov, Dimitar Liolev, to name a few.
Currently Ludmil is working with various ensembles in the Netherlands and around Europe as well as performing original music with his trio.
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“Ludmil was one of my best students, and I have to say that I learned as much from him as he did form me! Brilliant, creative, soulful, intellectually probing – Ludmil has it all. The work he’s doing with integrating Bulgarian rhythmic and melodic concepts into today’s jazz, as well as the way that he’s conceptualized Bulgarian music to make it understandable to the jazz player, makes him an important figure in today’s jazz scene. I highly recommend Ludmil in any musical capacity. He’s also a great guy!”
— Brian Lynch, Grammy Award Winning Trumpeter, Professor Of Studio Music and Jazz at Frost School Of Music, University of Miami, Owner Hollistic Music Works (New York/Miami, USA)
“Ludmil was one of the most dedicated of my students. It was evident that he really desired to learn more and challenge himself.He has skills that he is eager to share, but he is just as eager to learn. He is a focused and determined young man who is highly motivated to learn as much as he could and perform to his best capacities.His flawless technique on the guitar is outstanding. He is able to play very fast, sophisticated lines in very wide dynamic range with almost no efforts. One area Ludmil is very proficient in is playing really complex odd time rhythms in various tempos.”
—Freddie Bryant, Jazz Guitarist, Professor Of Guitar At Berklee College Of Music (Boston,USA), Professor Of Jazz, Prins Claus Conservatory (Groningen, The Netherlands)
“Ludmil is a musician of amazing quality. His musical skills are in a high level and his perception of Harmony and Rhythm is unique. Moreover, he is familiar with the Bulgarian folk music styles which add more to his Jazz guitar style and taste. Finally, he is quite open in new projects and he belongs to this rare type of musicians who really enjoy music when they play.”
— Michalis Cholevas, Master Coach, Yayli Tanbur and modules related to Makam Music and Taksim at Rotterdam World Music Academy, Codarts (Athens, Greece/ Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
“Ludmil’s talents span a very broad range from performance to composition and from academic research to coaching and mentoring young talent. A gifted multi-instrumentalist and guitar virtuoso, he is a walking encyclopedia of World (and particularly Balkan) music in a jazz and contemporary free/improvised context. The depth of his academic work strikes with presentation clarity and makes compelling reading. As a teacher he has the rare gift to encourage and motivate while setting exceptionally high standards, make complex concepts simple and empower learning by discovery. Down-to-earth and friendly, he is a delight to work with for band mates and artistic collaborators, scholarly peers and aspiring students. Highly recommended!”
— Vladimir Dimitroff, Director, PRISM Consulting (London, United Kingdom) Ltd