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A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE TWO MP3 PLAYERS BELOW THIS SCROLL BOX (NOT the mySpace player above).___VARIOUS PERFORMANCES___
FIRST FOUR TRACKS:
November 2005 at the Jazz Upstairs club.
Dimitri Vasilakis: Tenor sax
Andy Sheppard: Tenor/Soprano saxes
K. Zouganelis: Ac.bass.
5. GROUP THERAPY MEDLEY:
I love this band!! Comprised of four maniacs and a pianist it lived for half a year and produced a fairly interesting
mixture of styles both performing and compositional.
Petros Triandafyllopoulos:bass
Panagiotis Anagnostopoulos:guitar
Giorgos Giannopoulos:sax
Vasilis Georgoglou:piano, keyboards
6-7. MrSIMMS/BULLWORTH:
Two of the tracks in our soon-to-be-released 'Masterpieces revisited' project.
8. SAD SONG:
From Lakis Typaldos's album SURPRISES. A nice slow 12/8 tune.
9. WARFARE FOR TWO:
Recorded in 1989 I consider it the craziest arrangement I've ever come up with. When Vasilis Tsambropoulos played it he was 22 years old (I was 26).
What he did on it is simply mind boggling.
10-11. SOFTLY AS IN A MORNING SUNRISE/ONE NOTE SAMBA:
Summer 2004. It was the first time I played with the unbelievable Sami Amiri.
We both had a good time so we decided to form Nukleus.
Christos Zervos can be heard on the electric bass and Karen Solomon on the vocals.
12. ELVIS AT THE HOP:
Apostolos Golias:guitar
Dimitris Frosinis:Bass
13. CONCERTO FOR JAZZ QUARTET:
My piece from the 'Enthymion' CD produced by Gabriel Tsangaris. Since I didn't have the time to get a band together and rehearse the 18 minute long arrangement, I programmed the piano, bass and soprano parts -quite successfully I believe- and called up G.Kontrafouris for the piano solos over the intro vamp and the samba groove.
The whole thing is a three part composition comprised of an extended 1st part with an 'open Latin feel' moving to a nice little ballad with a 'deJohnette bossa feel' leading to a fast 7/8 swing third part.
Due to more than one reasons I only managed to record the first two parts.
14-16: I MEAN YOU/
BEMSHA SWING/MOONDANCE
From the Stand-Art album
Pantelis Benetatos:piano
Yorgos Fakanas:bass
Sandy Politi:vocals
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___SOME OF MY COMPOSITIONS___
1-4. SUITA CONCERTANTE:
This suite for violin, piano, strings and percussion is the only large scale composition I ever completed.
1st part:"A seadog's tale"
2nd part:"Young ghosts"
3rd part: "Balkan air"
4th part: "A musical time journey"
This last part is what I consider the cleverest orchestral piece I've ever written.
5. HYBRID 1:
"Slavohiberian"
The first part of my "Hybrids" suite for two pianos.
Performed by Nasos Grosas and
Panagiotis Giannakakis.
6. HIMAL:
A piece I wrote in '91 after my first expedition to the Himalayas. It means a hell of a lot to me.
7. PEARL FISHERS:
A multi-synth version of Bizet's aria. The vocal line is sung by Yorgos Romanos.
From the weird and wonderful NYN-Winning the game album, mixed and mastered by D.Bellos.
8. THE CURSE:
The only piece I wrote in the winter of '03 during my insomnia.
9. NARDIS:
I found a fantastic piano midi file on
the internet and, adding a bit of orchestra, turned it into a concertino.
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__To scroll through the tracks move the cursor up/down___
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WELL,AS YOU MOST PROBABLY HAVE ALREADY ASSESSED FROM THE SLIDE SHOWS, I'VE DONE QUITE A BIT OF TRAVELLING, A LOT OF ADVENTURE SPORTS AND A LITTLE MUSIC THROUGHOUT MOST OF MY LIFE.
I SAY MOST BECAUSE THINGS CHANGED LATELY AND-lo and behold- I CAN AT LAST LOUDLY PROCLAIM THAT I MIGHT BE A RETIRED ADVENTURER BUT I AM AN ACTIVE MUSICIAN.
NOW-I'm asking you- AIN'T THAT A NICE THING?
ANYWAY, FOR ANYONE INTERESTED, HERE'S A NOT SO BRIEF ACCOUNT OF MY MUSICAL ATTAINMENTS:
In 1983 I went to Berklee college where I got a full scholarship and took lessons from Tommy Campbell and Ed Uribe. During my stay in the USA I had the chance to play with some fantastic musicians like Jim Odgren, Aydin Esen, Jack Kulp, Hector Oliveira , Christian Jacob and the great Mike Jones.
After 1986 I had to virtually quit music due to circumstances beyond my control. In the years that followed I did a lot of traveling and delved into weird and wonderful things such as parachuting, paragliding, rock climbing, ice climbing, kayaking, studying Greek history, caving, diving, interracial sex, dozens of computer programs and Swahili, amongst many others.
In the early 90's I based myself in Greece.All through that decade I kept my involvement in music at a safety minimum (I rarely had sticks at home). In my free time I composed a bit and also gave sporadic lessons that surprisingly enough helped players like George Kollias (drummer of Nile) and Kal Drakopoulos (LA based session drummer). I also did a few jazz gigs, in Greece and around Europe, with some great players like pianists George Kontrafouris and Vassilis Tsambropoulos, bassists Xavier Padilla and George Fakanas and saxophonists Dimitri Vasilakis and Andy Sheppard.
In spite of the rarity of my performances the world renowned drum designer Gabriel Tsangaris decided to sponsor me so I found myself playing for Gabriel drums at the Frankfurt music-messe in ‘95 and ‘96.
I also had some luck as a composer.
A three part suite for two pianos I wrote when I was in Boston was performed, in two separate occasions,
at the Moscow Conservatory by pianists Nasos Grozas and Panagiotis Giannakakis.
From '97 to '03 I devoted myself to the mesmerizing world of strategy games, 3D graphics and complete self-indulgence. Of course I continued to travel in exotic places like Turkey, Israel and Rwanda and did a bit of jumping out of all kinds of aircraft, but less frequently. What was left of me the musician went out the window.
I did less than 30 gigs in a period of 7 years!
In 2001 I made the acquaintance of two extraordinary persons that were to play a major role in my musical rehabilitation some years later; pianist Sami Amiri and drummer Zacharia Penaculakis.
In the winter of '03 I had an apocalyptic experience that turned my life around 180°; I developed a severe sleeping disorder called ‘terminal insomnia’. It was triggered by the combined effect of a massive financial disaster and an unbelievably good looking woman, with its roots going back to the vast amounts of stress I had exposed myself to during my previous endeavours.
It almost killed me.
I came out of it, barely alive and absolutely skint, in the spring of '04. Out of a number of things I could do to get my life back in order, music was the only open option for more than one reasons. So when Giorgos Metallinos offered me a teaching gig at MMS Athens I jumped in head first.
It was October '04 and I was 41...
From then on it’s been music mostly for yours truly. I found myself involved in situations that just a few years ago I would have considered absolutely improbable, like an MMS drum camp with Thomas Lang and Dom Famularo. I became artistic director of a very active drum school and since May '06 I play with Nukleus which is the best thing I’ve done in my erratic musical career.
So, dear friends of all ages, sexes and races, never say never, for there’s no stranger bitch you’ll ever come across in your life than life itself...
see you when I see you,
Yannis
( Random order )
FRO
...Funky Space
KOSTAS BALTAZANIS ...Attack in 11/16
JULIE MASSINO ...NYC in your head VASILIS TZIATZIAS ...Facing East NIGHT ON EARTH ...Hotel ALEXANDROS DRAKOS KTISTAKIS ...Amanda's funk wizards YIOTIS SAMARAS ...Pandella's box._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _