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Pandelis Karayorgis

Born in Athens, Greece in 1962. Prior to moving to the U.S. in 1985, performed in small jazz groups while pursuing a degree in Economics. Earned BM and MM degrees in music from Boston's New England Conservatory while studying with Paul Bley, Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell, Dave Holland and Joe Maneri (composition) among others. Studied and performed extensively the music of Thelonious Monk and Lennie Tristano and in 1991 compiled a collection of all of Monk's compositions.

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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Album Review

Jeb Bishop, Pandelis Karayorgis, Damon Smith: Duals

Read "Duals" reviewed 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 ...

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Album Review

Pandelis Karayorgis Trio: The Hasaan, Hope & Monk Project

Read "The Hasaan, Hope & Monk Project" reviewed 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' ...

Album Review

Pandelis Karayorgis Double Trio: CliffPools

Read "CliffPools" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Ateniese di nascita, ma ormai residente a Boston dal 1985, il pianista Pandelis Karayorgis riunisce in questo album i due piano trio—rispettivamente Cliff e Pools—con 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 ...

6
Album Review

Pandelis Karayorgis Double Trio: CliffPools

Read "CliffPools" reviewed 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 ...

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Album Review

Pandelis Karayorgis Quintet: Afterimage

Read "Afterimage" reviewed 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 ...

2
Album Review

Pandelis Karayorgis Quintet: Circuitous

Read "Circuitous" reviewed 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, ...

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Album Review

Pandelis Karayorgis Trio: Cocoon

Read "Cocoon" reviewed 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 ...

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Music Industry

Pandelis Karayorgis Jazz Trio at the Lily Pad in Cambridge on Wednesday, November 30

Pandelis Karayorgis Jazz Trio at the Lily Pad in Cambridge on Wednesday, November 30

Source: 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, ...

"Over the course of nearly 20 years and approximately that many recordings, Karayorgis has established himself as one of the singular, and significant, pianists of his generation." Art Lange

" ... 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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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Duals

Driff Records
2023

buy

The Hasaan, Hope &...

Driff Records
2022

buy

CliffPools

Driff Records
2020

buy

Cutout

Driff Records
2020

buy

Cocoon

Driff Records
2014

buy

Circuitous

Driff Records
2014

buy

Transit

From: System of 5
By Pandelis Karayorgis

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