Pandelis Karayorgis
| bio | press | recordings | projects | contact | photos | video |
 

>bio

 

 

>BIO

Pandelis Karayorgis is a Boston based jazz/improvised music pianist, composer and educator.

In the last thirty years mostly led or co-led numerous groups in performances at festivals and clubs in Europe and the United States and Canada. Recordings appear on labels such as Hat Art, HatOLOGY, Clean Feed, Not Two, Leo Records, Nuscope, Boxholder, Okkadisk, Cadence, Accurate, Leo Lab, Ayler and more recently on Driff Records, an artist-run label co-founded by Pandelis Karayorgis and Jorrit Dijkstra.

Some of the most extensive recording/performing collaborations have been with Nate McBride, Curt Newton, Ken Vandermark, Mat Maneri, Guillermo Gregorio, Jorrit Dijkstra, Jeb Bishop, Luther Gray, Jef Charland, Randy Peterson and Dave Rempis.

Pandelis Karayorgis performed and recorded with Joe Maneri, Han Bennink, Damon Smith, Mary Oliver, Steve Swell, Frank Rosaly, Jason Roebke, Keefe Jackson, Tony Malaby, Michael Formanek, Forbes Graham, Matt Langley, Jeff Galindo, Taylor Ho Bynum, John Lockwood and Eric Rosenthal.

Also performed with Josh Abrams, Chad Taylor, Jason Adasciewicz, Jacob William, Laurence Cook, Eric Hofbauer, Jeff Parker, Tim Daisy, Jason Stein, Mike Reed, Josh Berman, Charles Waters, James Falzone, Nori Tanaka, Daniel Levin, Kresten Osgood, Jeff Platz and Charlie Kohlase.

Notable projects include The Pandelis Karayorgis Quintet, The Whammies, The Pandelis Karayorgis Trio (whose first trio CD "Heart And Sack" was featured on National Public Radio's program Fresh Air), the mi3, Construction Party, System of 5, the quartet Matchbox, the large group Bathysphere and more recently, the quintet Cutout, the Pools and Cliff trios and the Double trio CliffPools.

Born in Athens, Greece in 1962, moved to Boston in 1985. Prior to that, studied piano and performed in various jazz groups in Athens 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). Studied and performed extensively Thelonious Monk’s and Lennie Tristano’s music and in 1991 compiled a collection of all of Monk's compositions.

In 2021 awarded Finalist in Music Composition in the Mass Cultural Council 2021 Artist Fellowships Program.

 

 

Pandelis Karayorgis, Festival Izzven - Narodni Dom, Maribor, Slovenia, photo by Iztok Zupan
photo by Iztok Zupan

 

Quotes:
"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).

Dec 2005 Boston Globe article

Point Of Departure roundtable moderated by Bill Shoemaker

A great write-up from Chicago Reader's Peter Margasak (June 2013)
A bounty of brilliance from Boston pianist Pandelis Karayorgis

 

 

>DISCOGRAPHY
Out From Athens, with George Kokkinaris. Driff Records 2402, 2024
Truss, with Dave Rempis, Jakob Heinemann and Bill Harris. Driff Records 2401, 2024

The Hasaan, Hope & Monk Project, with Nate McBride, and Luther Gray. Driff Records 2201, 2022
Duals, with Jeb Bishop and Damon Smith. Driff Records 2203, 2022
Water Lilies, with Nate McBride, Kresten Osgood, Forbes Graham and Jeb Bishop. Driff Records 2201, 2022
10db, By Jeff Platz with Jeff Platz, Matt Crane and Nate McBride (Digital release, 2020, Bandcamp).
Precipice, Cliff Trio with Damon Smith and Eric Rosenthal, Fundacja Sluchaj! FSR 09, 2020
Cutout with Jorrit Dijkstra, Jeb Bishop, Nate McBride, and Luther Gray. Driff Records 2001, 2020
CliffPools, Double Trio with. Nate McBride, Damon Smith, Luther Gray, and Eric Rosenthal. Driff Records 2002, 2020
Pools, Trio with. Nate McBride and Luther Gray, Driff Records 1802, 2018
Cliff, Trio with Damon Smith and Eric Rosenthal, Driff Records 1503, 2018
Filter, The Diagonal, not two Records 978-2, 2018
Bathysphere, 15-member ensemble, Driff Records 1502, 2015

Matchbox, Quartet with Jorrit Dijkstra, Nate McBride and Curt Newton, Driff Records 1501, 2015
Afterimage, Pandelis Karayorgis Quintet (with Dave Rempis, Keefe Jackson, Nate McBride, Frank Rosaly), Driff Records 1404, 2014
The Whammies Play The Music Of Steve Lacy (Live )vol.3, The Whammies (with Jorrit Dijkstra, Jeb Bishop, Jason Roebke, Han Bennink, Mary Oliver), Driff Records 1401, 2014
Circuitous, Pandelis Karayorgis Quintet (withDave Rempis, Keefe Jackson, Nate McBride, with Frank Rosaly), Driff Records 1304, 2013
Cocoon, Pandelis Karayorgis Trio, Driff Records 1302, 2013
The Whammies Play The Music Of Steve Lacy vol.2, The Whammies (Jorrit Dijkstra, Jeb Bishop, Nate McBride, Han Bennink, Mary Oliver), Driff Records 1303, 2013
Window And Doorway, Gregorio/Swell/Karayorgis, Driff Records 1301, 2013
The Whammies Play The Music Of Steve Lacy, The Whammies (with Jorrit Dijkstra, Jeb Bishop, Nate McBride, Han Bennink, Mary Oliver), Driff Records 1201, 2012
Instruments Of Change, Construction Party (Forbes Graham, Dave Rempis, Pandelis Karayorgis, Luther Gray), not two records 852-2, 2012
System Of 5, Pandelis Karayorgis Quintet, Hatology 682, 2011
Betwixt, the mi3 (Karayorgis/McBride/Newton),Hatology 652, 2008
Free Advice, the mi3 (Karayorgis/McBride/Newton), Clean Feed CF098CD, 2007
Carameluia, Pandelis Karayorgis Trio (with Nate McBride and Randy Peterson),Ayler Records, aylDL-076, 2007

Foreground Music, Pandelis Karayorgis/Ken Vandermark,
Okka Disk, OD12065, 2007
Chicago Approach, Guillermo Gregorio/Pandelis Karayorgis/Nate McBride, Nuscope 1019, 2007
We Will Make A Home For You, the mi3 (Karayorgis/McBride/Newton), Clean Feed CF039CD, 2005
Seventeen Pieces, Pandelis Karayorgis, solo piano, Leo Records CD LR 417, 2004
Disambiguation, Pandelis Karayorgis/ Mat Maneri Quintet (with Tony Malaby, Michael Formanek and Randy Peterson), Leo Lab CD334, 2002
Blood Ballad, Pandelis Karayorgis Trio (with Nate McBride and Randy Peterson), Leo Records CD325, 2001
No Such Thing, Ken Vandermark, Pandelis Karayorgis and Nate McBride, Boxholder BXH 018, 2001
Let It, Pandelis Karayorgis and Nate McBride, Cadence CJR 1115, 2001
Red Cubed, Guillermo Gregorio (with Mat Maneri), hatOLOGY 531, 1999
Heart And Sack, Pandelis Karayorgis Trio (with Nate McBride and Randy Peterson), Leo Lab CD048, 1998
Lift & Poise, Pandelis Karayorgis/Mat Maneri (with Joe Maneri and John Lockwood), Leo Lab CD041, 1998
Approximately, Guillermo Gregorio (with John Lockwood, Mat Maneri and Eric Pakula), Hat Art 6184, 1996
Lines, Pakula/Karayorgis Quartet, Accurate AC-5014, 1995
In Time, Mat Maneri/Pandelis Karayorgis, Leo Lab CD002, 1994
Between Speech And Song, Pakula/Karayorgis/Rosenthal Quartet, Cadence CJR 1055, 1994
The Other Name, Pandelis Karayorgis, Motive MP001, 1992
Hand Made, Pandelis Karayorgis, Lyra/OM 053, 1989

 

>EDUCATION
• New England Conservatory of Music, Master of Music in Jazz Performance, Academic Honors, 1993
• New England Conservatory of Music, Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance, 1989
• TEACHERS
Jazz: Paul Bley, Geri Allen, Dave Holland, Stanley Cowell, John McNeil, Cecil McBee
Composition: Joe Maneri, William Thomas McKinley
Jazz Ensembles: George Russell, Jimmy Giuffre, George Garzone


>TEACHING EXPERIENCE
• Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School, Cambridge Mass., director of jazz ensembles, 1996 to present
• Suffolk University, Boston Mass., director of jazz ensemble, 2016 to present
• Shady Hill School, Cambridge Mass., director of jazz ensembles, 2009 to present
• New England Conservatory of Music, Boston Mass., director of the Thelonious Monk Repertory Ensemble, 1992-93

Other bios:
All Music Guide

Penguin Guide To Jazz (8th ed.)

Muze Encyclopedia of Popular Music (2002 bio)

 

 

| bio | press | recordings | projects | contact | photos | video |