Reviews:

Driff Records was formed in 2012 by pianist Pandelis Karayorgis and reeds/electronics player Jorrit Dijkstra, two European musicians who settled in Boston, Massachusetts, in order for each to have a stable release platform for their respective projects. Karayorgis appears on the three albums under consideration here. Each release highlights a particular aspect of his efforts to sustain a creative life in a town not particularly known for its friendliness to improvised music.

Water Lilies is a digital-only document of a totally improvised encounter between visiting Danish drummer Kresten Osgood, McBride, Karayorgis and two horn players, Bishop and Forbes Graham. Working first as a trio, they lock into a brisk exploration of sonic extremes; when the horns arrive, they induce a shift towards a more dialogic melodic music.
Bill Meyer, The Wire - February 2023 (Issue 468)

American-Greek, Boston-based pianist Pandelis Karayorgis is also the co-founder of Driff Records, with another ex-pat, Dutch sax player Jorrit Dijkstra. His recent releases document the vibrant free music scene of Boston. [...]

Water Lilies documents a powerful live performance from the Lilypad in Cambridge, Massachusets from May 2022 when Danish drummer Kresten Osgood played with four long-time Boston-based comrades from the Boston scene – trumpeter Forbes Graham, Bishop, Karayorgis and double bass player Nate McBride. Again, these five musicians share a long history of working together and have developed a common language.

The first three pieces were composed by Karayorgis, performed recently before by Karayorgis Double Trio and his Trio and played here by a trio of Karayorgis, McBride and Osgood. These pieces are followed by an improvisation of this trio and a 30-minute quintet improvisation with Graham and Bishop. Karayorgis’ pieces «Weft» and «Entanglement» follow Monk-ish angular lines, unique harmonies and sudden twists and leave a lot of space for the restless and energetic trio, and especially fiery Osgood, to charge these pieces with fast-shifting rhythmic patterns, but «allbyitself» takes the Monk-ish veins into a lyrical, balladic mode. The trio improvisation highlights the way the resourceful Osgood drives the trio’s interplay with his percolating grooves or with sparse, rhythmic colors. The quintet improvisation is an intense and restless one, with the five musicians often employing extended techniques, but, again, stresses how these long-time associates keep feeding each other ideas and shifting moods and dynamics in an organic manner.
Eyal Hareuveni, February 19, 2023 (link)