Jazz / Post-Bop, Avant-Garde Jazz
Recorded 24 and 25 April 1998
Pandelis Karayorgis, piano
Nate McBride, bass
Randy Peterson, drums
Design by Dimitris Arvanitis; photo by Mat Maneri.
As John Corbett writes in the liner notes: "It is a profoundly subtle work that sounds fresh and original despite the fact that it occurs within the confines of one of the oldest and most cliche-encrusted musical vehicles: the piano trio. Few of today's players - Misha Mendelberg, Marilyn Crispell, Cecil Taylor - are capable of fully unwrapping that dusty mummy". That piano trio is: Pandelis Karayorgis-piano, Nate McBride-bass, Randy Peterson-drums.
John Corbett's liner notes to this album cite Misha Mengelberg, Paul Bley, and Lennie Tristano as possible influences on pianist Pandelis Karayorgis' playing. Thelonious Monk might be another. Yet, Karayorgis is an original voice, one who meshes tonal clusters with an uncannily angular and subtle style. Here, with drummer Randy Peterson and bassist Nate McBride, the pianist makes every note count, with an unpretentious, deliberately paced mix of attractive originals, plus some not-so-well-known pieces by Eric Dolphy, Duke Ellington, and Ken McIntyre. Karayorgis' lines follow their own logic, and sound almost as though he is performing with his elbows, which of course he isn't. Peterson and McBride are both very effective partners, sharing the leader's penchant for quirky, carefully constructed nuance. As a trio, they may not be trailblazing entirely new territory, but the journey is filled with tastefully delicious twists and turns. ~ Steve Loewy, All Music Guide
Pandelis Karayorgis
Active Decades: '80s, '90s and '00s
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Avant-Garde Jazz, Post-Bop
Sentimental, sugary, fluffy, syrupy -- these are some words that won't hear in connection with avant-gardepost-bop jazz pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, whose playing has often been described as angular, cerebral, and abstract. Thelonious Monk and Cecil Taylor are his primary influences, although Paul Bley, Marilyn Crispell, Myra Melford and the underexposed Herbie Nichols are also valid comparisons. Born and raised in Greece, Karayorgis moved to Boston in the 1980s and attended the prestigious New England Conservatory (where he studied with well-known improvisers like pianist Bley and bassist Dave Holland). Karayorgis (who has often favored an inside/outside style of playing) remained in the Boston area, and has been consistently active on the Boston jazz scene (where he played with the Mandela Octet in the 1990s and often worked with violinist Mat Maneri). In the 1990s and early 2000s, the pianist recorded several albums as a leader or co-leader -- most of them on Leo.
---Alex Henderson, All Music Guide |
