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Pandelis Karayorgis
In the last twenty years mostly led or co-led groups whose recordings have often been voted into reviewers' top-10 lists in magazines such as Coda, Cadence, Jazz Times and Jazziz. Performed and recorded with Mat Maneri, Joe Maneri, Ken Vandermark, Tony Malaby, Michael Formanek, John Lockwood, Randy Peterson and Guillermo Gregorio among many others. Numerous performances at festivals and clubs in Europe and the United States. Recordings appear on labels such as Leo Records, Hat Art, Clean Feed, Nuscope, Boxholder, Okkadisk, Cadence, Accurate, Leo Lab, Ayler and HatOLOGY among others.
In the nineties worked closely with violinist Mat Maneri producing several recordings on Leo Records mostly in duo format, but also featuring Tony Malaby, Michael Formanek, Joe Maneri, John Lockwood and Randy Peterson. During the same time also co-led a group featuring much of the Tristano repertoire and originals with which, two CDs were made and a trip to Europe in 1997 as well. Also, in 1998 released first trio CD "Heart And Sack" to wide critical acclaim (among others it was featured on National Public Radio's program Fresh Air).
In the past few years toured and recorded in duo format with Ken Vandermark (there is also a 2001 trio CD with Vandermark and McBride) and also with Guillermo Gregorio (with whom there are two previous HatArt collaborations). Performed also with Dave Rempis, Josh Abrams, Jeff Parker, Jeb Bishop, Tim Daisy, Jason Stein, Mike Reed, Josh Berman, Keefe Jackson, Nori Tanaka, Daniel Levin, Frank Rosaly, Charlie Kohlase, Luther Gray, Jef Charland, Forbes Graham, Matt Langley, Jeff Galindo, Chad Taylor, Jason Adasciewicz, Charles Waters and the TILT Brass band, Chris Lopes, Okay Temiz, Hans Koch, Michael Griener, Jan Roder, Floros Floridis , Jorrit Dijkstra, Jacob William, Laurence Cook, Eric Hofbauer, James Falzone, Steve Swell.
A new quintet album, System of 5, featuring all original compositions and arrangements,has just been released by hatology. Also in the spring of 2011, a quartet album featuring Dave Rempis, Forbes Graham and Luther Gray will be released on not two records.
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Jeb Bishop, Pandelis Karayorgis, Damon Smith: Duals
by Mark Corroto
The Jeopardy answer is three to the power of 2." If you buzzed in fast enough with what is the album Duals? You would be correct. The three musicians, trombonist Jeb Bishop, bassist Damon Smith, and pianist Pandelis Karayorgis recorded these 33 duos in Boston between the fall of 2021 and the summer of 2022. While we promised there would be no math, the equation 'three to the power of 2' actually equals three separate discs each with duo combinations ...
read morePandelis Karayorgis Trio: The Hasaan, Hope & Monk Project
by Mark Corroto
Thelonious Monk is quoted as saying, the piano ain't got no wrong notes." He most certainly said this in response to the criticism of his approach to both composing and performance. In what sounds blasphemous today, critics and other musicians in the early days of bebop flat out said he couldn't play. Perhaps the lesson here is that nonpareil outliers who maintain the conviction of their methods ultimately prevail. That most certainly is the driving force behind pianist Pandelis Karayorgis' ...
read morePandelis Karayorgis Double Trio: CliffPools
by Neri Pollastri
Ateniese di nascita, ma ormai residente a Boston dal 1985, il pianista Pandelis Karayorgis riunisce in questo album i due piano triorispettivamente Cliff e Poolscon i quali aveva registrato per la Driff Records altrettanti lavori negli anni precedenti, dando vita a una formazione atipica: un quintetto con due contrabbassi e due batterie, formalmente un doppio trio che condivide il pianoforte. A fronte dell'organico e dei lunghi studi dedicati dal pianista a Thelonious Monk e Lennie Tristano, non stupisce ...
read morePandelis Karayorgis Double Trio: CliffPools
by Mark Corroto
Visit any dog park and you'll notice canines need no instruction on how to play together. Chasing the ball, chasing each other, or investigating a pond is quite instinctive for our furry friends. Apologies for equating the master musicians heard on CliffPools with a pack of dogs, but a ferocious struggle for dominance this is not. Boston-based pianist Pandelis Karayorgis had the idea to merge two of his piano/bass/drums trios into one coterie of kindred spirits. His trio work with ...
read morePandelis Karayorgis Quintet: Afterimage
by Glenn Astarita
Boston, MA area pianist, composer Pandelis Karayorgis brandishes his magic at a Chicago venue with some of the Windy City's finest improvisers. He shifts many concepts with odd-metered progressions while straddling the avant-garde spectrum amid a manifesto based on cohesive discourses, where the hornists may purposely lag behind the beat or bust out into commodious movements. Karayorgis is a perceptive composer, whether he ingrains a smoky blues motif with sinuous phrasings or positions the band into a manifold gait where ...
read morePandelis Karayorgis Quintet: Circuitous
by Giuseppe Segala
Il pianista Pandelis Karayorgis riunisce in questo robusto quintetto alcuni campioni del jazz chicagoano: il sassofonista Dave Rempis, cresciuto ala corte di Ken Vandermark e apprezzato leader di una interessante formazione come The Percussion Quartet, il sassofonista e clarinettista Keefe Jackson e il batterista Frank Rosaly, esponenti della nuova guardia ruotante attorno al gruppo Fast Citizens, il contrabbassista Nate McBride, componente da lungo tempo del trio di Karayorgis e compagno di tanti improvvisatori di vaglia come Mat Maneri, Joe McPhee, ...
read morePandelis Karayorgis Trio: Cocoon
by Vincenzo Roggero
Può un classico piano-trio--nel quale viene rispettata la canonica suddivisione dei ruoli (il contrabbasso fa il contrabbasso, la batteria suona come una batteria), dove trova posto l'usuale successione di assoli e l'altrettanto usuale alternanza tra brani lenti e brani veloci, dove le composizioni sono basate quasi interamente sul blues, il più classico dei generi musicali americani--sembrare tutto meno che un classico piano-trio? La domanda suona pleonastica se protagonista è il Pandelis Karayorgis Trio. Il leader--origine ateniese, residenza ...
read morePandelis Karayorgis Jazz Trio at the Lily Pad in Cambridge on Wednesday, November 30
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MassJazz: Jazz in Massachusetts
Jazz pianist and composer Pandelis Karayorgis and his Trio perform at the Lily Pad Jazz Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are just $10. Karayorgis is joined by Jeff Charland on the bass and Luther Gray on drums. The trio has been described as one of the best progressive piano trios anywhere" by the Boston Globe. For upcoming performances in December at the Lily Pad, located at 1353 Cambridge Street in Inman Square, ...
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" ... by this stage, Karayorgis has developed a powerful piano language of his own and this is its definitive statement to date." The Penguin Guide To Jazz Recordings, (8th Edition) in reference to solo piano CD "Seventeen Pieces" (2004).
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From: System of 5By Pandelis Karayorgis