Lefteris Kordis

Pianist, composer, and Inner Circle Music and Creative Nation Music recording artist Lefteris Kordis was born in Athens, Greece. Since age four, and with the support and encouragement by his parents George and Peggy, he has studied, performed, and composed based on a spectrum of genres including Jazz, Western Classical, Modernist/Avant-Garde, Greek Folk, Byzantine chant (his grandfather was a cantor, whose brother directed a school of cantors), and Argentinean Tangos. His musical experiences include stints with Steve Lacy, Sheila Jordan, Joe Lovano, Greg Osby, Robin Eubanks, George Garzone, Dimos Dimitriadis, Joe Hunt, Takis Paterelis, Dimitri Vassilakis, as well as Greek composers Mikis Theodorakis and Dionysis Savvopoulos, Greek pop singers Fivos Delivorias, Aggelos and Stelios Dionysiou, Greek folk clarinet players Vasilis Saleas and Panayotis Haliyannis, pontian kemence players Matthaios Tsahouridis, Mihalis Kaliontzidis, Japanese shō player Ko Ishikawa, dancer Li Chiao Ping, textile design artist Sonya Clark, and numerous theater directors, actors and poets. Lefteris has premiered compositions by Yusef Lateef, John Mallia, Gene Coleman, Johannes Berauer, Greg Bullen, Ayn Inserto, and James Grant. These works involve free and structured improvisation, prepared piano, and pre-recorded and live electronics. From 1997 to 2002, Lefteris served as a pianist and transcriber/arranger for the Greek-based “Mi bemol Quintet” performing exclusively the music of Astor Piazzolla. He has also worked as a transcriber/arranger for the Dutch “Metropole Orchestra.”

Lefteris has appeared in such major venues as the Megaron of Music of Athens, Greece, Jordan Hall in Boston, Tsai Performance Center at Boston University, the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, WI, the Cornelia Street Café in NYC, the Shapeshifter Lab in NYC, the UMO Jazz Club in Helsinki, Finland, the Touchill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the Vlahcevic Concert Hall at the Virginia Comm University, the Tinos Jazz Festival, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Megaron Gkyzi Festival in Santorini, the Fraser Performance Studio at the WGBH radio station, and he has appeared regularly with his jazz piano trio at the Beehive in Boston (Top 100 World Jazz Clubs according to DownBeat).

Lefteris earned prestigious awards from the Fulbright, the Onassis, the Ruth Shapiro and the Gerondelis Foundations, which allowed him to move to the US to pursue a Master’s and a Doctorate degree at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, where he served as a professor and course developer from 2005 to 2013 at the Jazz, Music History/Musicology, and Music Theory departments. Extremely instrumental to his spiritual and artistic growth were teachers/mentors Danilo Perez, Steve Lacy, Allan Chase, Frank Carlberg, Bob Brookmeyer, Ran Blake, Jerry Leake, Dimos Dimitriadis, and Charlie Banacos, When Banacos passed away in 2009, Lefteris decided to devote his doctoral dissertation to document Banacos’s pedagogy of jazz improvisation. Currently, he is researching about and writing a book on Danilo Pérez’s teaching approach and philosophy through the Panama Jazz Festival, the Danilo Pérez Foundation, and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston, MA.

Lefteris teaches improvisation, composition, and theory privately at his home studio in Brookline. He also teaches theory at the New England Conservatory prep school. He is performing the organ and directs the gospel choir at the Rush Memorial AME Church in Cambridge, MA. Also, Lefteris and his wife Panayota organize the “Café Aman Fest,” a Mediterranean Folk Music Festival that occurs bimonthly at Athan’s Bakery in Brighton, MA. Participant musicians are from Greece, Turkey, Italy, Syria, Israel, Armenia, US, and others. The main scope of the Festival is to create a community of musicians and audiences.

Lefteris has taught and/or presented lectures and masterclasses at University of Missouri - St. Louis, UMASS Amherst, UMASS Boston, University of Rhode Island, Ionian University in Greece, and Walnut Hill Music School. He has organized and/or performed in benefit concerts and fundraising events, and he has provided music for people with mental disabilities and the elderly in asylums and senior homes respectively both in the US and Greece. He has recorded six CD albums as leader or co-leader, and has appeared in numerous major venues and festivals in Europe and the United States.

DMA in Jazz Performance, Minor in Music Theory, NEC; M.M. in Jazz Performance, NEC (with honors); B.M. Ionian University, Corfu, Greece. Studies with Charlie Banacos, Danilo Perez, Bob Brookmeyer, Steve Lacy, Michael Gandolfi, Ran Blake, Allan Chase, Jerry Leake, Frank Carlberg, Jerry Bergonzi, Mike Cain, Dimos Dimitriadis, and Takis Paterelis.

Classical Piano Studies with Eva Stange (lifelong student of Paul Badura Skoda). Trumpet studies with Socrates Anthis, Darren Barrett.

Byzantine Music studies with Grammenos Karanos, Yannis Arvanitis. Oud studies with Malcom Barsamian,

Recordings as a leader/co-leader: Mediterrana (2016) (to be released in spring 2016) by Inner Circle Music Oh Raven, If you Only Had Brains - Songs for Aesop's Fables (2012) by Inner Circle Music Standards (2011) Bebop Trio (2007) by Creative Nation Music Oneirographia (2005)

Awards

from the Fulbright, Onassis, Gerondelis, and Shapiro Foundations

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CD/LP/Track Review

Mediterrana by Neri Pollastri
Mediterrana by Franz A. Matzner
Bebop Trio by AAJ Italy Staff

November 23, 2011

Greek Jazz Pianist Lefteris Kordis Performs at Langham Boston Hotel on...

from Jazz Masters

“A pianist with skill, touch, musicality and a gift for making songs from songs. Plus, he can swing! Give a listen” ~ Bob Brookmeyer

”A young pianist & composer who has demonstrated an exceptional creativity, in both his playing & his writing, as well as showing us all, his very strong commitment & motivation to aim for high musical goals. Talent like his is rare.” ~ Steve Lacy

“In these times, when there is great need of fresh examples of intercultural dialogue, Lefteris Kordis's music is an abundant source of inspiration.” ~ Danilo Perez

from the Media

“Kordis made his miracle! [...] He carries multi-genre and multi-cultural musical influences, all of which are essential to be a creative, complete and multi- dimensional musician.” ~ Dimitris Trikas (popaganda.gr - December 14, 2014)

”Pianist Kordis is a masterful musician whose nimble mind can perform the most amazing spontaneous improvisations on any given theme, lightning fast in his fingering and always in precise coordination with the singer and others

Primary Instrument

Piano

Willing to teach

Beginners

Credentials/Background

Primary Instrument

Piano

Willing to teach

Beginners

Credentials/Background

Areas Jazz Improvisation (all instruments) Composition Music Theory Eastern Mediterranean Styles (Theory & Practice) Teaching Philosophy Holistic and individualized are two terms that sum up Lefteris Kordis’ teaching approach. He emphasizes on guiding students to experience and learn music first on an instinctual, and later on an intellectual level. He provides various tools that can assist students to develop improvisation skills; transcribe music (aurally, notated, or both); learn a variety of musical languages with emphasis on jazz and folk music; compose new music; strengthen the musical ear; and physically experience rhythm. Paintings, movies, poetry, dance, and other disciplines are utilized as mediums to develop an effortless sound on the instrument and invent new ideas. Lefteris has observed that when students operate from the world of imagery, the possibilities are endless and students are always engaged and inspired to making music and at the same time, develop strong musicianship skills. Inspired by the personalities and teaching approaches of his former teachers and mentors Charlie Banacos (doctoral dissertation on his Pedagogy), Steve Lacy (interdisciplinary idea), Danilo Perez, Allan Chase, Jerry Leake, and Ran Blake, he has developed a wide spectrum of strategies and methods that are tailored to each individual’s needs to reach freedom in musical expression. Lefteris has successfully prepared music students to pass auditions and enter graduate and undergraduate jazz programs in schools such as Berklee Valencia (Masters), Longy School of Music (Masters), Berklee Boston (Bachelors), and other schools in Holland and Greece (UGR), as well as teenager students for jazz summer camps, high-school jazz orchestras, and other small combos. Current students include Harvard Ph.D. candidates, New England Conservatory faculty and students, and other already professional musicians who seek to expand their improvising and compositional skills. Testimonials A kind and altruistic person [...] articulate, extremely well organized, very clever on technology. He can grasp the soul of a piece with a wonderful appreciation for stylistic originality. ~Ran Blake Lefteris offers students a vast pool of experience and knowledge that one can dip into - it's actually more like you want to jump in and splash around when you realize what he has to offer! His enthusiasm and love for music creates an atmosphere of positive vibes and a safe space for learning. With patience, encouragement and true commitment, he will leave no stone unturned in helping a student understand a topic. —Barbara Banacos (professional musician, educator) Like many other musicians, I always had trouble identifying the fine details of exactly what was happening in the music I played. I could feel dense harmonies and chord progressions, but for the most part I couldn't readily identify them. Within just a few months of studying theory and ear training with Lefteris, this has begun to change radically. It's as if a dense fog had always been obscuring the connection between my inner ear and my conscious mind, and with Lefteris' guidance I'm finding my way out of the fog into a bright clearing, full of birds and fragrant blossoms. What impresses me the most about Lefteris is not his impeccable musicianship or his firm command of an unusually wide range of musics, though these are apparent to anyone who spends any time at all around him. What makes him such an extraordinary teacher is his very obvious commitment to bringing out the absolute best in his students by patiently, compassionately, and methodically training us to let our intuition take the lead in what we do as musicians. In the short time that I've been studying with him, I've experienced a dramatic improvement in my comprehension of harmonic progressions and an explosion of compositional creativity. I can't recommend him highly enough. ~Panayotis (Paddy) League, performer, composer, ethnomusicologist, PhD candidate at Harvard University A remarkable hardworking teacher and creative jazz pianist and composer. I am most impressed with the detailed and patient way he can break down and clearly explain the mechanics of what and why we are working this way. Bert Seager (professional jazz musician, composer and educator) I feel extremely fortunate to have found Lefteris as my teacher. Being a teacher of classical piano myself, I know what it takes to teach- -and am happy to say that he is everything you would want to find in your dream teacher- - brilliant, organized, inspiring, and deeply tuned to the needs of the student. Every lesson is custom tailored to each student, and he was able to assess exactly what I needed to begin my journey as a beginning jazz student. I am so happy with the progress that I have made, and can't wait for my next lesson!! - Sarah Takagi Piano faculty, New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division Lefteris is an amazing piano teacher. My 13-year old daughter has improved tremendously as a result of Skype lessons with him. My daughter’s relative pitch is now at a very high level as a result of his ear-training exercises. Also, my daughter’s ability to solo over jazz chord changes is much improved because of him. Simply put, Lefteris has done wonders for my daughter’s playing. —Louis Greenwald (ex professional musician)

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