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Vassilis Tsabropoulos
Vassilis Tsabropoulos/Anja Lechner/U.T. Ghandi: Melos
by Dan McClenaghan
Melos approaches a highbrow listening experience. It's another gorgeous offering from ECM Records, teaming Greek pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos with German cellist Anja Lechner and Italian drummer U.T. Gandhi. From the first delicate piano notes of the title tune, joined in short order by the rich, mournful cry of the cello, it's obvious that the players have spent their formative times in the classical world.So, for the jazz bean counters out there, this might not fit in snug fashion ...
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by Budd Kopman
While the composer, performer and listener approach any given piece of music from differing perspectives, each needs the others for a work to become fully actualized. Improvisation combines the first two roles to the extent it is done, bringing the listener closer to the source of the inspiration. Melos is an extraordinary musical document from the team of pianist/composer Vassilis Tsabropoulos and cellist Anja Lechner (with subtle percussion support from U. T. Gandhi on a number of ...
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by John Kelman
Exploring similar territory as the sublimely beautiful Chants, Hymns and Dances (ECM, 2004), pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos and cellist Anja Lechner switch the emphasis on Melos. Chants focused largely on the writing of rebel philosopher Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1866-1949)--for whom musical composition was more a means to an end, encouraging students to strive for a higher state of awareness and take greater control over their lives--bookending five Tsabropoulos pieces that, while reflective of the pianist's own voice, acted as a seamless ...
read moreArild Andersen/Vassilis Tsabropoulos/John Marshall: The Triangle
by AAJ Staff
For a player with a background in classical music, pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos has done wonders in the realm of jazz, and specifically improvisation. He still plays with a precise, sensitive touch and measures out dissonance in carefully metered pinches, but the tidal ebb and flow that characterizes this trio recording stands as remarkable evidence that he's made the transition completely and elegantly.
Triangle is so named more for the shared space than any sort of angular edges to ...
read moreArild Andersen / Vassilis Tsaboropoulos / John Marshall: The Triangle
by John Kelman
What a difference four years and touring time can make. The Triangle, the follow-up to 2000's sublime trio recording Achirana, shows a group that has grown in leaps and bounds, becoming something more, something larger. Clearly Vassillis Tsaboropoulos, an established classical pianist whose first recording of improvised music was Achirana, has evolved. While the thrust of the trio remains in chamber jazz, his playing is more extroverted. Straight" and the 5/4 piece Saturday" demonstrate a new-found brightness, and ...
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