Yako Trio

Leandros Pasias - piano
Vangelis Vrachnos - double bass
Giorgos Klountzos-Chrysidis - drums

‘’It is a real jazz of fire that can be found in both North Greece and Africa and reflects on what we consider modern jazz today. I think Yako Trio from Thessaloniki is one of the best jazz groups in our country.’’ —G. Charonitis, Athinorama, 2020

Three young musicians who, after their studies mainly in jazz, and their musical wanderings in various cities abroad, returned to their hometown with their bags full of a great variety of sounds, experiences and knowledge and the aim of challenging and conversing with their country’s unique traditional sounds and images derived from its rich multicultural history.

The key element for forming the Trio was the work of the well-known Greek musician and composer Yannis Konstantinidis, in particular his arrangement of familiar melodies and rhythms of Greek traditional music. His intention was to preserve the unregistered Greek traditional musical material through the compositional process. Konstantinidis was heavily influenced by classical composers such as C. Debussy, M. Ravel and B. Bartok. The members of Yako Trio have a deep knowledge of Konstantinidis’ work and also a great admiration for it. They formed this trio in order to experiment with his work and reintroduce it to the audience from their own musical perspective. That’s why they named the band “Yako Trio”, after Yanni’s Konstantinidis’ initials.

In 2018, they released their first album Ode to Yannis. In this album, they approached well-known Greek traditional songs in a new, dynamic, creative way, combining traditional idioms, classical harmonies and elements of modern jazz, while incorporating jazz improvisations.

They are now forming their own musical identity with original compositions in the style of modern jazz. These compositions have been recorded for their second album which is going to be released soon featuring two great saxophonists, Nicolas Masson and James Wylie.

They have performed at major festivals and venues such as Athens Technopolis Jazz Festival (Pick of the Festival), Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, Jazz in Progress Heraklion, Dimitria Festival, Music Showcase Greece, Institut francais de Thessalonique, Moni Lazariston Festival Thessaloniki, Kyustendil Summer Cultural Holidays & Radio Plovdiv (Bulgaria) , Sumadijski Blues & Jazz Festival (Serbia).

They have shared the stage with great guest musicians such as Nicolas Masson, James Wylie, Harris Lambrakis, Dimitris Angelakis, Makis Stefanidis, Vasilis Lagdas, Elsa Mouratidou, Dimos Danas and Periklis Vrachnos.

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