Desy and The Shiny Stockings, Bulgaria
Dessislava Andonova – vocal
Peter Georgiev – guitar
Dimitar Karamfilov – bass
Atanas Popov – drums
Inspired by the magnetism and sophistication of the 1930’s and 1940’s jazz heyday, these four refined musicians have gathered, zealous to revive the Golden Age of Swing. The sound of their performance is upbeat, elated and groovy.
In 2020 Desy and The Shiny Stockings released their eponymous debut album. In 2023 their sophomore album – focused on jazz-blues – is approaching. Blue Stories appears to be a proper title for it.
Dessislava Andonova has completed her degree in classical singing at the National School of Music in Sofia. Her musical path is fascinating and diverse seeing that, being an established DJ herself, she was involved in Plastic HiFi project as well as in the Phuture Shock band. Phuture Shock’s two albums Playback and In and Out were highly acclaimed and won many awards. But in 2010 the swing entered the stage as Dessy, along with two other charming artists, became The Sentimental Swingers and added some new classy dimensions to the musical life in Bulgaria. They participated in many festivals, had numerous concerts and released one album. So, the swing affection has long been there and now it is blossoming with the Dessy & The Shiny Stockings. In the meantime, in 2019 Dessislava Andonova had her first solo album Audiobook recorded.
Peter Georgiev holds a BA degree in Jazz Guitar Performance at New Bulgarian University. But that was only the first step in his musical journey that took him to one of the capitals of jazz – New York. There he had studied under Michael Mossman, Antonio Hart and David Berkman to gain a Master’s degree in Jazz Guitar Performance from Queen’s College, followed by the Jazz diploma from the Brooklyn Conservatory. While in NY, he used to play mostly with Avalon Jazz Band and Nay-Nay Blues and Jazz trio, as well as with Queen’s College Big Band.
Currently, Peter resides in Sofia. Over time, he has performed with some of the finest Bulgarian jazz musicians such as: Antoni Dontchev, Camelia Todorova, Rossen Zahariev – Roko, Yildiz Ibrahimova, and to name a few. He is a bandleader of the soul-jazz project Harlem Jazz. In 2016 he released his first album Inspirations, followed by Old City Songs in 2018.
Dimitar Karamfilov is among the brightest jazz instrumentalists of the new generation in Bulgaria. He has been playing with some of the most prominent musicians in the country (Antoni Donchev, Theodosii Spassov, Hilda Kazassyan), as well as with many internationally recognized artists – Tom Harrel, Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzon, Mario Stantchev, Rick Margitza, to name but a few. Dimitar is touring with the popular American band Pink Martini.
He regularly participates in all major jazz festivals in Bulgaria, not to mention copious esteemed international music forums. Dimitar Karamfilov has released two albums so far – Ecology (2018), recorded with the renowned Spanish saxophonist Arnau Garrofé, Hristo Yotsov (percussions), Alexander Logozarov (guitar), Mihail Yosifov (trumpet) and Konstantin Kostov (piano) and Turn to Love (2020).