Evgenia Karlafti (org/pno/vcls); Nestor Dimopoulos (gtr/vcl); Vagelis Kotzabasis (dms); Dimitris Papadopoulos (tpt); Dimitri Vassilakis (ten); Antonis Andreou (tmb) + Anastasis Gouliaris (dms - 1 track).
(Review by Lance).
In the UK we tend to think that Grecian jazz began and ended with the redoubtable Vasilis Xenopoulos. However, back in Athens, this CD indicates that there is jazz of Olympian standard going on in Vasi's home country.
Music Soup are, basically, an organ/guitar/drums trio augmented for this album by three horns. Karlafti can swing - think Shirley Scott and Dorothy Donegan and Evgenia is up there with them and quite a few of her male contemporaries! She plays nice piano and sings good too - listen to Your Song.
Guitar is comparable with anything heard 'twixt Adriatic and Atlantic and the horns also have their moments in the Aegean sun.
Karlafti and Dimopoulos composed the nine originals - individually and as co-writers.
Cut To The Chase is described as hip, eclectic jazz from Greece and I, for one, won't argue with that.
If, in the unlikely event of finding myself in a Greek Taverna, I won't be fobbed off with the Fasolado. Instead, I'll cut to the chase, and order Music Soup - a double helping!
Available on Summit/Chicken Coup Records via the usual suspects.
Lance.
PS: Closer to home, Vasilis Xenopoulos will be in the North East October 21-23.
1 comment :
Thanks to Lance Liddle of UK's BEBOP SPOKEN HERE for the first review for CUT TO THE CHASE, the new CD by Mouthpiece Music clients Evgenia Karlafti B and Nestor Dimopoulos of Music Soup from Greece! (Lance, you kill me!) The CD is out on Tony Monaco's Chicken Coup label!
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