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Lefteris Kordis
Pianist, composer and Inner Circle Music recording artist, Lefteris Kordis, has established himself as a unique voice in the Mediterranean Jazz genre. He grew up in Elefsis, an ancient and multicultural town near Athens, Greece. Since age four, he studied, performed, and composed based on a wide spectrum of genres including Greek Folk, European Chamber, and Jazz.
Kordis started on piano at age 4, ingesting broad swaths of the classical tradition and soon-thereafter, jazz. Before he turned 18, he had performed with legendary Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis. That was an excellent start to a career that’s seen him supporting many maestros in Jazz (Steve Lacy, Sheila Jordan, Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Joe Lovano, Greg Osby, Robin Eubanks), and Greek Folk (Panayotis Lalezas, Glykeria, Vasilis Saleas), at festivals and major venues (Carnegie Hall, Panama JF, Toronto JF, Athens Epidaurus Festival), worldwide.
Lefteris Kordis, as well as the music he writes, is truly ‘worldwide’. In addition to the aforementioned genre masteries (Jazz, Greek Folk), Kordis brings a musicologist’s ear for the un-tempered harmonies of ancient Byzantine chant. Not to mention, a couple-hundred Sundays experience as the organist and choir director at Boston’s historic Columbus Ave AME Zion Church. Given that broad variety of musical languages fluently spoken, one understands his recruitment by Danilo Pérez to teach at Berklee’s Global Jazz Institute, and his recent appointment to the Ionian University in Corfu.
Lefteris Kordis writes and plays so that all these genre boundaries are ever artfully-blurred, and sometimes erased entirely. It’s a water-color kind of art, he tells us by the title of his new, and 7th album, Aquarelles, which features a shifting ensemble of Jazz and Greek Folk heavies (Jerry Bergonzi, Lefteris Bournias, Edmar Colon, Jorge Roeder, Harris Lambrakis, Eviatar Slivnik, among many others).
Awards
Fulbright, Onassis, Gerondelis, and Shapiro
Silver medal at the Global Music Awards for "Aquarella 2"
Gear
Korg Kronos 73
Korg PA4x
Korg Sigma
Casio Privia PX-S7000
Tags
Lefteris Kordis: Mediterrana
by Neri Pollastri
Da tempo residente negli Stati Uniti e oggi professore al Berklee College, il pianista e compositore Lefteris Kordis è però originario di Atene e mostra di non aver dimenticato la musica ascoltata in giovane età e le tradizioni musicali delle sue terre, studiate nel corso della sua formazione artistica. Questo disco, basato su formazioni variabili di traccia in traccia, è dedicato alla Grecia e ne riprende, rielaborandoli, temi e atmosfere. Tre dei brani sono in trio (uno è ...
read moreLefteris Kordis: Mediterrana
by Franz A. Matzner
Jazz's ability to absorb new musical traditions and take advantage of novel instrumentation is one of its most notable features. Fans of this form of experimentation will appreciate pianist Lefteris Kordis' forays into merging jazz with traditional Greek and other Mediterranean lineages. Delivered as a series of piano trio plus guest artist compositions, Mediterrana's strength is the subtle blending of timbers Kordis deftly guides from behind the piano, and a consistently restrained approach which results in a refined ...
read moreGreek Jazz Pianist Lefteris Kordis Performs at Langham Boston Hotel on November 23
Source:
MassJazz: Jazz in Massachusetts
Greek-born jazz pianist and composer Lefteris Kordis is performing at the BOND Restaurant | Lounge at the Langham Boston Hotel on Wednesday, November 23, 2011, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Kordis is a Fullbright Scholar who graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory, where he now teaches piano, jazz ear training and music theory. He has developed an undergraduate course entitle, The Post-Bebop Era: 1949-61. The BOND Jazz Experiment highlights emerging artists and accomplished performers covering the jazz spectrum, ...
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"A pianist with skill, touch, musicality and a gift for making songs from songs. Plus, he can swing! Give a listen" Bob Brookmeyer ~ Composer, Trombonist, NEA Jazz Master; "Talent like his is rare." Steve Lacy ~ Saxophonist, Composer, McArthur Genius Fellowship Award Recipient; “In these times that we are in great need of fresh examples of intercultural dialogue, Lefteris Kordis's music is an abundant source of inspiration.” Danilo Pérez ~ Pianist, Composer, Multi-Grammy winner ; "Some 70 years after Dizzy Gillespie incorporated Afro Cuban rhythms into the big-band context, jazz today regularly takes its cue from global musical traditions
Primary Instrument
Piano
Location
Boston
Willing to teach
Advanced only
Credentials/Background
Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music Founder of the Inter-Galactic Music Academy Online https://www.facebook.com/InterGalacticMA Develop and expand your Ear and Rhythm skills in a Quantum mode through composition, improvisation, and re-harmonization projects by using imagery, games, colors, films, poetry, paintings, and dance. Improvisation (all instruments) Composition Eastern Mediterranean Styles (Theory & Practice) Piano Technique: Develop mastery through Qigong and techniques I learned from Charlie Banacos and Eva Stanke
Clinic/Workshop Information
Dino Saluzzi
bandoneon
John Taylor
piano
Toots Thielemans
harmonica
Ran Blake
piano
Jimmy Giuffre
clarinetGuinga
guitar
Ahmad Jamal
piano
Keith Jarrett
piano
Ben Webster
saxophone, tenor
Randy Weston
pianoPhotos
Music
Mediterrana
From: Mediterrana (Goddess of Light)By Lefteris Kordis
