Hammond Brothers are on their first Bulgarian tour as a quartet, with a new programme. The band plays at Ten Fingers Live Music Bar in Burgas on Saturday, 10 October, the group told BTA. The tour opens a day earlier, on 9 October, at the Kontrabas bar in Plovdiv.

This report follows our earlier story about the quartet's Burgas show on 10 October, in which the organisers announced the band's new programme.

The musicians will play a Hammond organ at both Ten Fingers and the Melon club in Veliko Tarnovo. They are pleased about that, because the sound of the instrument is the base of their pieces.

Vilizar Gichev plays guitar in the quartet, Andrey Gichev plays the Hammond organ, Arnau Garofe is on tenor saxophone and Teodor Toshkov is on drums. The project belongs to the Gichev brothers. Garofe, a Spaniard from Barcelona, and Toshkov are playing with them as a quartet for the first time this autumn. At some shows the band will play as a classic trio of guitar, organ and drums.

"We wanted to build on what we have already done with the Hammond trio, but open the music up to one more voice," Vilizar and Andrey Gichev told BTA. They say Garofe fits well because he knows the tradition but thinks in a modern way. He is also active on the European jazz scene.

The programme includes original pieces and pieces from the classic Hammond organ tradition. The musicians draw most of their inspiration from Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, Grant Green and Jack McDuff. The more modern pieces show traces of Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Joey DeFrancesco and Joshua Redman's album "Elastic".

The tour takes in Plovdiv, Burgas, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo and Sofia. The band plays La Cachette in Varna on 16 October and Veliko Tarnovo on 17 October. It ends the tour on 18 October in Sofia, at Just Jazz Jam/Gaba bar.

The idea for the project came after Vilizar Gichev worked with the Italian organist Pietro Caroleo. Together with Toshkov, they formed the Hammond Organ Trio, the first project in Bulgaria with the classic line-up of Hammond organ, guitar and drums. The trio has played concerts and gone on two tours in Bulgaria, and in 2026 it played at the jazz festival in Bansko. Its album of original music is due out on vinyl.

Vilizar Gichev is now carrying on the idea with his brother Andrey, with their own repertoire. Vilizar studied jazz guitar in Trieste and Rome, and Toshkov graduated and worked in the Netherlands. After the tour, Andrey Gichev will go to Rome to continue his studies.

On 30 April this year, the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA) announced it was setting up a national jazz press club.