" data-original-title="" title="">Neyko Bodurov might have opted for a life-long career in those countries' chamber ensembles and orchestras. Instead, the thirty-seven-year old has followed his jazz muse. Once of the European Jazz Orchestra and the jazz department at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, Bodurov is the principal driving force behind the Varna Jazz Days Festival, held over two days in May, by the shore of The Black Sea. The music is clearly in his DNA. On this, his debut album, Bodurov takes a modernist approach to traditional form, his electro-acoustic quintet navigating the highways and byways of Nu-jazz where funk, soul-jazz, electronica and broken beats provide the frameworks for the quintet's tight interplay.

Right from the start of "Somethin' in Between," with its nostalgic sound of needle crackling on vinyl, post-production plays an important role in sculpting Bodurov's soundworld—an important role, but not a defining one for, as on this opening soul-funk track, drummer Dimitar Semov's hip-hop-influenced beats and keyboardist (and brother) Dimitar Bodurov's painterly touches greatly inform the leader's compositions. Trumpeter, then keyboardist followed by alto saxophonist