Nikos Chatzitsakos

Born in Athens, Greece, bassist, arranger, and composer Nikos Chatzitsakos is an award-winning musician as a member of Ralph Peterson’s GenNext Big Band and leader of the Nikos Chatzitsakos Tiny Big Band & Quartet. Influenced by Black American music of the 1940s-60s, he attempts to find new ways to honor the era and perform it and connect it to other idioms.

Nikos is a graduate of Berklee College Of Music in Boston, where he studied performance and jazz composition with a full-tuition scholarship. He continued his graduate studies at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute on a full-tuition scholarship.

Nikos has performed alongside distinguished musicians such as Ralph Peterson, Frank Lacy, Antonio Hart, Quiana Lynell, Sarah Reich, and George Kontrafouris. Nikos has also taken the stage at venues including, Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Lincoln Center, DC Jazz Festival, Scullers Jazz Club, “Jazzed In Siberia” festival, The Berklee Performance Center (BPC), and the Onassis Cultural Center.

Awards

Full Tuition Scholarship Berklee College of Music Undergraduate. Full Tuition Scholarship Berklee Global Jazz Institute Graduate. First place in the 68th DownBeat and second place in the 67th DownBeat Critics Poll’s Rising Star Big Band category with Ralph Peterson GenNext Big Band. 2nd place on the 2019 Seven Virtual Jazz Club Competition with Nikos Chatzitsakos Tiny Big Band. Winner of arrangement category of DownBeat Student Music Award 2020. Recipient of the 2020 Panhellenic Scholarship.

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