Pavlidis Jiannis
Another Place
Label: Pk Records
Genre: Industrial / Post Industrial / Experimental
Availability
- CD Digi / Cardboard €15.99 In Stock
“A very talented guitarist with a very good mind for composition and arranging.” — NEA Jazz Master David Liebman
In calling this album Another Place, guitarist Jiannis Pavlidis alludes to his own peripatetic life journey. There’s his birth country of Sweden, his ancestral home of Greece, and his musical studies in Stockholm, Boston (Berklee) and the north of England, where he currently resides and teaches. On Another Place, with bassist Ntinos Manos and drummer Alexandros Spanidis, Pavlidis ties the story together in a strong, unified voice, swinging hard on a satisfying collection of standards and modern jazz classics (the title track, the sole exception, is one of Pavlidis’ older original compositions).
Pavlidis’ previous offerings include Migration (2013) with drummer Adam Nussbaum and organist George Kontrafouris, the 2015 duo summit Alone Together with saxophonist Matt Anderson, and the 2008 quartet outing Forever Lost with the great David Liebman. Not long after the Another Place session, Pavlidis recorded a set of original pieces with a quartet (adding piano to the lineup). He also looks forward to releasing a fully improvised, chamber-like set of music from 2013 with saxophone, drums and nylon-string guitar.
Another Place, meanwhile, is where we hear Pavlidis dealing with the language, the tradition, revealing a captivating fluency and lyricism on Miles Davis’ “Solar” and “Nardis” as well as an upbeat samba arrangement of “Darn That Dream” (the tune that ended Migration, in a more traditional ballad style). Wayne Shorter’s lilting “Ana Maria” and Jaco Pastorius’ timeless waltz “Three Views of a Secret” highlight Pavlidis’ deep affinity for these iconic artists and his keen harmonic grasp of the material.
The closing track, “Rosario’s Groove,” is based on a borrowed riff, something played by Italian saxophonist Rosario Giuliani that sparked Pavlidis’ imagination. With Giuliani’s blessing, the guitarist used this jaunty syncopated figure in seven as the basis for his own piece, adding a melodic middle section that occasions a beautiful bass solo from Manos. Kicking on a bit of distortion (as he also does on the C section of “Three Views”), Pavlidis dials up the intensity of the outro vamp, bringing Another Place to a dramatic finish and leaving us wanting more.
Jiannis Pavlidis studied in Stockholm with Alvaro Is Rojas (formerly with Josephine Baker, Grady Tate, Joe Farrell) and Ola Bengtson (Stockholm Royal Academy). At Berklee he studied guitar with Jon Damian, and privately off-campus with tenor great Jerry Bergonzi. Performing professionally since 1983, he has played across all genres (pop, rock, blues, jazz, Greek folk music) in many countries, on Greek national TV and international festivals. He has performed all over England and Greece participating in tours and recordings as a leader and with world-renowned artists including David Liebman, Adam Nussbaum, Ari Hoenig and Greg Hutchinson.
Jiannis Pavlidis, guitar
Ntinos Manos, bass
Alexandros Spanidis, drums
All arrangements by Jiannis Pavlidis
Produced by Jiannis Pavlidis
Recorded at Polytropon recording studio, Kalamaria, GR
Recording engineer: Thanos Kazantzis
Mixed and mastered by Tim Thomas
Album designed by Yannis Koritsidis
Cover photo by Lisa Fotios