Aquarelles: Celebrating the inner child
2-Volume Album full release in March 2024
LIVE VIDEO
INTERNATIONAL CORFU JAZZ WORLD FESTIVAL
MUSIC SAMPLES
QUOTES
"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 our times, we are in great need of fresh examples of intercultural dialogue and Lefteris’s music offers 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. A prime example is the colorful, highly intelligent blend of modern jazz elements and aspects of Mediterranean folk-song found on Mediterrana” ★★★★
Michael Harris, DOWNBEAT magazine
"The version of Lennon / McCartney's "And I Love Her" is one of two exceptional jazz piano trio interpretations to appear in 2016, the other being Brad Melhdau's on his Blues and Ballads CD” ★★★★★
Scott Albin, JAZZ TIMES magazine
BIOGRAPHY
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).
Extented Biography
Upcoming Dates
November 26, 2024 Lefteris Kordis Jazz Quartet Beehive, Boston
November 6, 2024 Ken Schaphorst Big Band Regattabar, Cambridge, MA
October 22, 2024 Lefteris Kordis Jazz Quartet Beehive, Boston
September 26, 2024 Lefteris Kordis Quartet: Aquarelles Mad Monkfish, Cambridge, MA Tickets
September 19, 2024 Bill Jones Jazz Quartet The Aeronaut Brewery, Somerville, MA
September 7 & 8, 2024 Enosis feat Panayota Haloulakou Somerville, MA Greek Festival
September 1, 2024 Enosis feat Panayota Haloulakou Lynn, MA Greek Fest
August 6, 2024 Lefteris Kordis Jazz Quartet Beehive, Boston
July 24, 2024 Panayota Haloulakou, Greek themed event Beehive, Boston
July 13-14, 2024 Enosis feat Panayota Haloulakou Ipswich Greek Festival, Ipswich, MA
June 21, 2024 Lefteris Kordis Quintet: Aquarelles Tsitsanis Museum, Trikala, GR
June 17, 2024 Dimos Dimitriadis Jazz Quartet Acron, Paleokastritsa, Corfu GR
June 16, 2024 Dimos Dimitriadis Jazz Quartet ΠΟΙΑΘ, Old Fortress, Corfu GR
June 11, 2024 Lefteris Kordis’s Ionian Jazz Vocal Ensemble Polytechno, Corfu GR
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May 5, 2024 Lefteris Kordis - Panayota Haloulakou Duo and Quartet Square Jazz Root, Roslindale, MA
April 30, 2024 Lefteris Kordis 7tet: Aquarelles BOSTON CD Release LilyPad, Cambridge, MA
April 28, 2024 Lefteris Kordis 4tet: Aquarelles NEW YORK Premiere DROM, New York, NY
April 20, 2024 Tino Kayafas Trio Wheeling, West Virginia
April 13, 2024 Rena Tsapelas w/ Lefteris Bournias Panama City, Panama
April 02, 2024 Lefteris Kordis Quintet: Aquarelles CORFU Premiere Polytechno, Corfu, GR
March 29, 2024 Dimos Dimitriadis: Art of the Trio “Songs in Revolution Half Note Jazz Club, Athens, GR
March 20, 2024 Alex Drakos Ktistakis “Anthology Graeca” Half Note Jazz Club, Athens, Greece
March 7, 2024 Lefteris Kordis Quintet: Aquarelles CD release Half Note Jazz Club, Athens, Greece
December 21, 2023 Bill Jones jazz quartet w/Dave Fox The Aeronaut Brewery, Somerville, MA
December 14, 2023 Memorial concert for DektoR (Ran Blake’s late cat) MIT Killian Hall, Cambridge, MA
December 3, 2023 Tino Kayafas Trio West Virginia University
August 30, 2023 Jerry Bergonzi Quintet (click for video) PBS Studios, Westwood, MA
August 23, 2023 Jerry Bergonzi Quintet (click for video) PBS Studios, Westwood, MA
August 16, 2023 Jerry Bergonzi Quintet (click for video) PBS Studios, Westwood, MA
August 9, 2023 Jerry Bergonzi Quintet (click for video) PBS Studios, Westwood, MA
July 20, 2023 Lefteris Kordis solo piano Gloucester Stage Company - Culture Splash
June 25, 2023 Lefteris Kordis Quartet: Aquarelles Morning Side Jazz Club, Arlington MA
June 22, 2023 Jerry Bergonzi - Phil Grenadier 5tet recording session PBS Studios, Westwood, MA
June 2, 2023 Lefteris Kordis - Edmar Colon duo Lilypad Inman, Cambridge MA - 7:15pm
March 29, 2023 Tutti Druyan “Katinka” project: Sephardic songs reinvented Brookline Booksmith, Brookline MA - 7pm
March 9, 2023 Lefteris Kordis trio feat Brad Barrett and Dor Herskovits Lilypad, Cambridge MA
February 26, 2023 Astghik Martyrosyan Quintet City Winery Boston
February 22, 2023 Joe Reid - Lefteris Kordis Piano Duet Scandinavian Living, West Newton, MA
December 17, 2022 Lefteris Kordis - Phil Grenadier Duet Beehive Boston
November 24, 2022 Lefteris Kordis trio w/ John Lockwood & Dor Hershkovitz Beehive Boston
October 29, 2022 Lefteris Kordis - Rick DiMuzio duo Beehive Boston
October 15, 2022 Pantelis Gatanas Denver, CO
October 7, 2022 New England Jazz Collaborative Orchestra Longy School of Music
September 17, 2022 Lefteris Kordis - Edmar Colon duo Beehive Boston
September 3, 2022 Pia Salvia & Noam Israeli Quintet Narragensett, RI
August 24, 2022 Jerry Bergonzi Quintet (click for video) PBS Studio, Westwood, MA
July 30, 2022 Lefteris Kordis - Phil Grenadier duo Beehive Boston
July 16, 2022 Lefteris Kordis - Rick DiMuzio duo Beehive Boston
December 11, 2021 Jerry Bergonzi Quintet Westford Museum, MA
Sep 30, 2021 Astghik Martyrosyan LilyPad, Cambridge
Sep 4, 2021 Pantelis Gatanas Denver, CO
Aug 30, 2021 Jerry Bergonzi, John Lockwood, Karen Kocharyan Harvard, MA
June 11, 2021 Jerry Bergonzi - Harvie S Quintet (click for video) PBS Studio, Westwood, MA
April 9, 2021 Jerry Bergonzi Quintet (Live Streaming) PBS Studio, Westwood, MA
February 7, 2020 Panayota Haloulakou - Laconikon project Greek Consulate of Boston
December 20, 2019 Lefteris Kordis trio w/John Lockwood & Karen Kocharyan Beehive Boston
December 8, 2019 Maliotis 2nd Annual Greek Music Festival
October 28. 2019 Edmar Colon Band - Berklee Woodwind dept: Long Winded Berklee Performance Center
October 24, 2019 Panayota Haloulakou & Penny Muse Band David Friend Hall, Berklee College of Music
October 12, 2019 Lefteris Kordis - Edmar Colon duo International Corfu Jazz Festival
October 12, 2019 Jay Clayton Jazz Quintet International Corfu Jazz Festival
October 9, 2019 Petros Klampanis trio Symphony Space, New York City
October 2, 2019 Petros Klampanis Trio Twins Jazz Club, Washington, DC
July 10, 2019 Penny Muse Band feat. Roni Eytan & Lefteris Bournias Hellenic Muse Festival, Chios, Greece
June 5, 2019 Penny Muse Band feat. Panayotis Lalezas Lily Pad, Cambridge
May 4, 2019. Penny Muse Band “Crossroads project” feat. dancer Wyoma Maliotis Greek Cultural Center
April 27, 2019 Lefteris Kordis - George Garzone Duo concert Port City Blue
April 3, 2019 Berklee Global Jazz Institute 10th Anniversary Concert Berklee Performance Center
March 30, 2019 Vasilis Skoulas with 8-piece ensemble plus Maliotis choir Maliotis Cultural Center
October 3, 2018. Berklee Faculty Concert, Lefteris Kordis - Rick DiMuzio duo David Friend Concert Hall
July 20, 2018 Alex Drakos Trio Vamos Jazz Festival
July 10, 2018 Lefteris Kordis Mediterranean Jazz Octet Athens Epidaurus Festival
March 30, 2018 BGJI Summit concert “Shakespeare project” Berklee Performance Center
Feb 25, 2018 Roni Eytan Quartet Cornelia Street Cafe, New York
May, 2017 Gabby Awards Concert Carnegie Hall
CONTACT
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