Orchestral Unfavourites is out now
••• New Single Release •••
"Orchestral Unfavourites" the 2nd single from Roberto Pistolesi's upcoming album is now available on digital platforms.
"Open Lands and Moving People" will be released on the 17th of February (available on CD and digital). You can preorder the album and listen to the 2 first tracks now by clicking >>
lnk.to/OLAMP_Pistolesi
Roberto Pistolesi - drums
Roberto Tarenzi - piano
Zack Lober - upright & electric bass
Daniel Juárez - Tenor Saxophone
Teis Semey - guitar
Sanne Huijbregts - Vocals, Lyrics & Vibes
Artwork by Andrea Scala
Recorded and mixed by Udo Pannekeet at Wedgeview Studio
Mastered by Huntley Miller
#olamp_pistolesi #ΠΚmusic
••• New Single Release •••
“Disoriented” by Petros Klampanis is the first track from his upcoming album “Tora Collective”, bound to be released on February 24th in collaboration with @enjarecords .
Listen/preorder: music.petrosklampanis.com/ToraCollective
Using traditional Greek music to discover a common new voice, the project aims to build dialogue, spark creativity, cultivate respect for the past, pave a path forward, discover a new musical storytelling powerful enough to reach and touch audiences in many countries. This is an experiment that bridges worlds: the east and the west, the traditional and the modern, the nostalgic and the forward-looking, using the power of music and improvisation.
Alexandros Arkadopoulos - clarinet
Thomas Konstantinou - oud
Kristjan Randalu - piano
Ziv Ravitz - drums/production
Petros Klampanis - bass/production
Recorded by George Kariotis at Sierra Recordings SA, Athens
Mixed by George Kariotis, Ziv Ravitz & Petros Klampanis
Mastered by Christoph Stickel
Cover Photo by Yannis Bournias
Doily created circa 1950 by Anastasia Liveri
Cover by Rédsky Design
Released in collaboration with Enja Records.
#ToraCollective
"Meditations" by Vagelis Stefanopoulos • OUT NOW
••• New Album Out Now •••
Vagelis Stefanopoulos’ new album “Meditations” is now available on CD and digital.
You can listen/order it here: https://fanlink.to/VS_Meditations
Stefanopoulos brings to his music the technique and tone gained from his study of classical piano, as well as his vast experience in musical genres from jazz and pop to world music and minimalist electronic music. Sounds from his synthesizer and digital sound manipulation dance together with the beautiful tone of the Fazioli grand piano and the electric guitar. In sum, Meditations is a rare minimalistic statement from a virtuoso who aims not to impress but to delight, and maybe enlighten. The album’s aura is eloquently captured by Allan Watts’ quote inscribed on the CD inside cover: “Eyes see and ears hear as wind blows and water flows.”
All music produced, composed, performed and mixed by Vagelis Stefanopoulos
Performed live at Art Tracks Studios, Athens (April 2022)
Engineered by George Priniotakis
Mastered by Pete Maher
Album design by Rédsky Design
Cover photo Panagiota Lampropoulou
Vagelis Stefanopoulos George Priniotakis #VagelisStefanopoulos #ΠΚmusic #Meditations
"Spontaneous Sketch" out now
>> New Single Release >>
“Spontaneous Sketch” is out now.
The first single from saxophonist Daniel Juárez’s album
“Energía • Live” is now available on Bandcamp and all streaming services. You can preorder the album and listen to this piece, by clicking: bit.ly/Energia_pre
Daniel Juárez - Tenor Saxophone
Álvaro del Valle - Guitar
Darío Guibert - Double Bass
Rodrigo Ballesteros - Drums
Sound engineering and live recording: Antón Serrats
Mixing and mastering: Rodrigo Ballesteros
Art design and photography: Teresa Jiménez
Even as the album earns its title Energía with the agitated, irregular rhythms of “Shifting” (in its middle section) and the uptempo charge of “Missed Chances,” the band has a calmer side as well, evident in the closing ballad “By Now” and the beautiful guitar/tenor duet “The Quiet.” On the latter as well as the brief solo guitar interlude “Context,” del Valle’s instrument achieves a shimmering weightlessness, a resonance that complements the breath and radiance of Juárez’s tenor sound. But whatever the mood or tempo, Juárez maintains, the challenge is “to look for a balance between what a fixed melodic structure and the spontaneity of the moment can bring. We always have a ground to walk on, but from there we can discover new things by taking a risk, stepping away from those defined forms.”
#newrelease #ΠΚmusic #Energia #DanielJuarez #RodrigoBallesteros #DaríoGuibert #ÁlvarodelValle
One for All and All for One
>> New Single Out Now >>
"One for All and All for One" is the second track by Vagelis Stefanopoulos upcoming album "Meditations", out on Oct 14.
Preorder the album and have access to two released tracks:
https://bit.ly/Meditations_pre
“One for All and All for One” is about harmony, as Vagelis states: “When one part serves the whole and the whole serves this one part, that is harmony. Every note serves the chord and the chord makes every note sound better. When this happens you want to stay there forever.” The longest piece on the album, it showcases Vagelis’ rich palette of sounds. Looped pianos with tape delay, arpeggiated synthesizers, string pad, electric guitar and acoustic piano all work together to create a calm but elevating scenery that takes us home — and leaves us longing to stay there a little bit longer.
Recorded by George Priniotakis
📷 Panagiota Lambropoulou
#NewRelease #ΠΚmusic #VagelisStefanopoulos #meditations #GeorgePriniotakis
"Be Still My Heart" by Vagelis Stefanopoulos
>> New Single Out Now >>
"Be Still My Heart" by Vagelis Stefanopoulos
Listen/Preorder album: https://fanlink.to/VS_StillHeart
"Going solo is always a dare and a challenge for every musician myself included. Be Still my Heart is the first single of this new endeavour of mine that represents in a way the agitation but also the peaceful fulfilment one experiences when walking into new places." - VS
Stefanopoulos brings to his music the technique and tone gained from his study of classical piano, as well as his vast experience in musical genres from jazz and pop to world music and minimalist electronic music. Sounds from his synthesizer and digital sound manipulation dance together with the beautiful tone of the Fazioli grand piano and the electric guitar.
•••
Vagelis Stefanopoulos #NewRelease #ΠΚmusic #VagelisStefanopoulos #meditations #GeorgePriniotakis
‘Through the Darkness’ Music Video Premiere
📯 'THROUGH THE DARKNESS' by Quique Ramírez, premiers on YouTube Wed June 29 at 12:00 CET
Set your reminder here:
bit.ly/ThroughtheDarkness
Daniel Juárez - tenor sax
Diego Hervalejo Sánchez - wurlitzer & synths
Akos Forgacs - bass
Video & editing - Celia Cardona
Mixing & mastering - Richard Cano
'Through the Darkness' by Quique Ramirez Out Now
••• New Album Release •••
We are excited to announce that Quique Ramírez’s
‘Through the Darkness' is out now!
You can stream it on any music platform or order it on CD by clicking fanlink.to/ThroughDarkness
"Sometimes you have to slow down to appreciate the beauty of things". Ramirez’ assessment of his compositional approach is direct and concise, mirroring the music itself: "Most of the things I wrote, I sang them first. I tried to write everything that felt natural to me, not paying much attention to the ‘right notes’ or ‘chords.’"
The enveloping wordless vocals of Viktorija Pilatovic on “Slow Marching Theme” transform that song into a dreamscape, prefaced by a brief intro suffused with haunting Wurlitzer harmonies and naturalistic water and percussion sounds, creating a kind of extended form.
Daniel Juárez - tenor sax
Diego Hervalejo - Wurlitzer and synths
Akos Forgacs - Electric Bass
Quique Ramírez - drums
Special guests:
David Binney - alto sax
Viktorija Pilatovic - voice
Isaac Martín - guitar
Arantxa Rossi - voice
Mixed and mastered by Richard Cano
Recorded at R-Track Studio in San Juán (Alicante), Spain
Album cover by Rédsky Design
Cover photo by Celia Cardona
•••
#ΠΚmusic #newrelease #QuiqueRamirez #danieljuarez #diegohervalejo #akosforgacs #davidbinney #ViktorijaPilatovic #IsaacMartin #ArantxaRossi #ThroughTheDarkness
'The Microtiming Man' out now
> New Single Release by Quique Ramirez
'The Microtiming Man' feat. David Binney
This is the second single from Quique Ramírez's upcoming debut album on ΠΚmusic, 'Through the Darkness', which drops on May 27. Ramirez invited alto saxophonist extraordinaire David Binney to join his 4tet for the recording this track.
Listen/preorder the album at bit.ly/throughdarkness_preorder
"Binney is among the groundbreaking figures in jazz who inspired Ramirez to compose the music for Through the Darkness in the first place. The two met and became friends during Ramirez’ masters studies in Groningen and New York. In some ways, Through the Darkness reflects Binney’s aesthetic influence in its searching harmonies, unpredictable rhythmic structures and adventurous sonics, but it was important to Ramirez that the album also include Binney’s direct input as a soloist. Sparks fly as these kindred spirits engage, with Ramirez pulling from drum influences that run the gamut from jazz to funk, heavy rock and electronic music."
•••
#ΠΚmusic #NewSingle #throughthedarkness #DavidBinney
••• Video Premiere on Friday April 22 •••
Drummer Quique Ramirez's debut recording 'Through the Darkness' is dropping on May 27.
'Slow Marching Theme' feat. singer Viktorija Pilatovic, the first single of the album, is already available on all digital platforms. Tomorrow, at 12 noon CET the official music video will be available on YouTube.
Set your reminder at bit.ly/slowmarching_youtube
•••
Quique Ramírez Viktorija Pilatovic Music #VideoPremiere #NewAlbum
'Long Way Home' will be released on April 15.
Listen/order at https://bit.ly/Angelakis
Vibraphonist Dimitris Angelakis, who came of age as a jazz player in Philadelphia and New York, is proud to announce the arrival of his debut recording Long Way Home, releasing on April 15. 'Long Way Home' finds Angelakis in virtuosic form, playing original compositions and inventive arrangements in a burning quartet that foregrounds the magical blend of vibraphone and Fender Rhodes electric piano (played with consummate skill by George Kontrafouris). We become who we are, Angelakis suggests, through the voyages we take, and this is in fact the voyage’s ultimate goal.
#ΠΚmusic #newalbum #preorder
Apostolos Leventopoulos talks about his new album
Apostolos Leventopoulos talks about his new release.
'Songs for Acoustic Guitar' will be presented live this Saturday at 21:30, at Jazzét Café / Jazzét Music Hall. The creator of this beautiful album, invites another wonderful guitarist, Yiorgos Limakis for this intimate concert.
Reserve your seat at 21 0581 5626.
•••
APOSTOLOS LEVENTOPOULOS "Songs For Acoustic Guitar" CD RELEASE CONCERT- Guest: YIORGOS LIMAKIS
Apostolos Leventopoulos Yiorgos Lim Sierra Recordings SA
Remembrance • Apostolos Leventopoulos
••• New Music Video •••
Apostolos Leventopoulos came to our office to record a version of his song 'Remembrance', a song included in his new release 'Songs for Acoustic Guitar'.
Leventopoulos will present this album in Athens, on Saturday March 26 at Jazzét Café / Jazzét Music Hall, with guitarist Yiorgos Lim as a special guest.
More info at APOSTOLOS LEVENTOPOULOS "Songs For Acoustic Guitar" CD RELEASE CONCERT- Guest: YIORGOS LIMAKIS.
•••
#ΠΚmusic #songsforacousticguitar
‘Long Way Home’ out on April 15
••• New Single •••
‘Murphy’, the second track of Dimitris Angelakis’ upcoming album, is now available on all music streaming services.
You can preorder the album on Bandcamp 🎧
••• "Songs for Acoustic Guitar" by Apostolos Leventopoulos is out now! •••
Listen/buy: https://fanlink.to/SongsForAcousticGuitar
With exceptional clarity of tone and a crisp, mellifluous touch, Leventopoulos reveals a refined sense of songcraft and a certain bluesy undercurrent in his phrasing, even in this intimate context. He cites the influence of Kevin Eubanks in his use of a more biting, percussive attack to vary the traditional fingerstyle approach. And thanks to those Neumann mics, we can hear Leventopoulos breathe as he shapes his melodic passages, heightening the music’s human feel.
There’s a pastoral sensibility throughout Songs for Acoustic Guitar, from the bright and flowing waltz “Wandering Thoughts” to the minor-key musings of “The River” and “Forest Breeze” and the balladic tranquility of “Sunny Afternoon.” The goal was to find “a flow that’s not self-conscious, that’s more like a real performance,” says Leventopoulos, and to that end the tracks were recorded in one or two takes with minimal if any edits. This allowed him to fully inhabit the earthy groove of “Remembrance” and navigate some of the most striking harmony of the set on the closing “Silence Within.”
Apostolos Leventopoulos: guitars, composition, production
George Kariotis: recording, mixing engineer
Christos Zorbas: mastering engineer
Cover photo: Kostas Papantoniou
Album cover: Rédsky Design
•••
Apostolos Leventopoulos Sierra Recordings SA
Preorder ‘Long Way Home’ by Dimitris Angelakis, set to be released in April.
••• ‘Long Way Home’ by vibraphonist Dimitris Angelakis will be released on April 15. •••
You can preorder it today at bit.ly/Angelakis
The title Long Way Home is inspired by Greek poet Konstantinos Kavafis, in particular the poem “Ithaca.” “Don’t expect Ithaca to give you many riches,” the poems reads. “Ithaca has already given you a fine voyage; without Ithaca you would never have parted.” We become who we are, Angelakis suggests, through the voyages we take, and this is in fact the voyage’s ultimate goal.
Wise words from a musician who has undertaken extensive journeys of his own. The son of an acclaimed Greek trumpet player/arranger, Angelakis established himself in Europe with a number of Greek orchestras, as well as the Delaware Steel led by Harvey Price, before moving to Philadelphia on a Fulbright.
Dimitris Angelakis-vibraphone
George Kontrafouris-piano & Fender Rhodes
Kimon Karoutzos-bass
Jason Wastor-drums
•••
#LongWayHome #newrelease #ΠΚmusic
'Wandering Thoughts' by Apostolos Leventopoulos, the 2nd single from his upcoming album, is now available on all music streaming services.
You can preorder the album today at https://bit.ly/SFAG_preorder
"From the time he was 9 or 10, guitarist Apostolos Leventopoulos would go hiking in the forests in and around Mount Olympus, near his hometown of Katerini in northern Greece. It was thus a natural impulse, during the upheaval and shutdown of 2020, for Leventopoulos to leave his current home of Athens and return north, to Katerini and also Litochoro, where the mountain begins. He lived on a farm and went on frequent hikes, the days and weeks spent in relative isolation. The sound of the soul-jazz organ trio, long one of Leventopoulos’ main expressive vehicles, began to recede from his ears, supplanted by the acoustic guitar. Group playing, of necessity, gave way to solo playing. And Leventopoulos began to compose the songs that would come to make up his beautiful new album Songs for Acoustic Guitar, slated for release this February on ΠKmusic."
•••
JAZZ in Greece JazzTimes DownBeat Magazine #ΠΚmusic #songsforacousticguitar #pkmusic
‘Wandering Thoughts’ • Single Release
You can now pre-save 'Wandering Thoughts', the 2nd track from Apostolos Leventopoulos’ upcoming album ‘Songs for Acoustic Guitar’.
The single is set to be released this Friday, January 28, and by pre-saving it you will be the first ones to listen to it on Spotify.
Click show.co/XJJVeGG and follow the instructions (it's a very quick process).
You can still pre-order the whole (digital or physical) on bandcamp.
•••
Sierra Recordings SA Apostolos Leventopoulos Jazz in athens DownBeat Magazine
Regarding the Moon • New Single Release
••• New Single Release •••
'Regarding the Moon' is a new composition by Greek bassist Petros Klampanis, commissioned and performed by Andrew Hadro, baritone saxophonist in New York City. Hadro began working on the concept in the early days of the pandemic as a way to give work to composers during the global performance outage. It is written for double string quartet (four violin, two viola, two cello), bass, piano, drums and features the baritone saxophone. It utilizes the extreme upper register of the baritone saxophone, a range and timbre rarely used by composers.
Listen at https://bit.ly/PKmusic_Moon
The title is both a reference to the extreme upper reaches of saxophone range and a nod to composer Claude Debussy’s 'Clair de Lune'. The piece is so technically difficult that Hadro spent months re-learning the altissimo range of the baritone saxophone, while the recording took nearly 18 months to complete on two continents with sessions months apart.
According to Petros, 'Andrew asked me to write a tune that features the high register of the baritone, a sound which I find especially beautiful and surely not what someone expects to hear from a bari. I tried to integrate the roles of the different ensembles, within the whole group (strings on the one hand and a jazz quartet on the other) and create a musical story that allows the leading instrument to shine but not overshadow the colours of the group.'
This piece is the first in a series of compositions commissioned to feature the baritone saxophone with strings as part of Andrew Hadro's ongoing project, 'For Us, The Living'. Subsequent works will debut in 2022.
>> Credits:
Andrew Hadro: baritone saxophone
Martha Kato: piano
Petros Klampanis: bass
Rogerio Boccato: drums
Dionisis Vervitsiotis, Migen Selmani, Haralambos Karasavidis,
Pericles Timplalexis: violin
Enkela Kokolani, Krystalia Gaitanou: viola
Marina Kolovou, Fabiola Ojeda: cello
Concertmeister: Stathis Soulis
Sound Engineers:
Geo
••• ‘Hidden Trails’ by Maria Manousaki is out now •••
Listen/order at https://bit.ly/Maria_HT
In Hidden Trails, Maria Manousaki and her group, invoke images of traditional Cretan Folk melodies into which she weaves bursts of modern jazz with middle eastern elements.
Her multicultural and distinguished musicians add their own Ethnic
colour to her compositions. The result creates an ear fest of vibrant, dramatic and exhilarating sounds on the one hand, and expressive, melancholic melodies on the other.
Hidden trails is Maria’s second album as a leader. Her inspiration
stems from her respect for those who, against all odds, stand up to
an overpowering enemy In order to defend their freedom, beliefs
and rights.
Maria Manousakii-violin
Guy Mintus- piano
Panagiotis Andreou- bass
Engin Kaan Gunaydin- drums
Guests
Haig Yazdjian -oud
Tigran Sargsyan - traditional wind instruments
Zacharias Spyridakis - Cretan lyra
Laertis Kokolanis violin
Enkela Kokolani viola
Alexandros Botinis cello
Ward Williams cello
All music composed by Maria Manousaki except for Rizitiko which is a Cretan folk tune
Production and arrangements by Petros Klampanis
Recorded at Sierra Studios by George Kariotis except for Rizitiko which is recorded at Restoration Sound Brooklyn NY by Lorenzo Wolff.
Mixed by Dan Brantigan.
Mastered at Sear Sound Studios NYC by Jeremy Loucas.
Cover photo Adrien Tillmann.
Artwork by Rédsky Design.
