Pandelis Karayorgis
# Pandelis Karayorgis

Pandelis Karayorgis (born 1962) is a Greek-born and Boston-based pianist, composer and educator.

## Life and career

Karayorgis was born in Athens, Greece in 1962. He began classical piano lessons at the age of 9, but by the end of high school he was in love with jazz and beginning to play gigs while pursuing a degree in economics. In 1985, Karayorgis went to Boston to attend the New England Conservatory, where he earned BM and MM degrees in music while studying with Paul Bley, Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell, and Joe Maneri among others.

He studied and performed extensively the music of Thelonious Monk and Lennie Tristano. In the nineties, he worked closely with violinist Mat Maneri producing several recordings mostly in duo format. During the same time, he also co-led a group with Eric Pakula featuring much of the Tristano repertoire, and collaborated with Argentine saxophonist and composer Guillermo Gregorio.

He recorded for labels such as Cadence, Leo, Nuscope, OkkaDisk, Clean Feed, hatOLOGY, Not Two, and Driff, an artist-run label co-founded by Karayorgis and Jorrit Dijkstra. Some of the most extensive recording/performing collaborations have been with Nate McBride, Curt Newton, Luther Gray, Jef Charland, Randy Peterson, Ken Vandermark and Dave Rempis. His projects include the Pandelis Karayorgis Trio, the electric trio mi3, the quartet Construction Party, the quintet System of 5, and the Whammies, a group dedicated to the music of Steve Lacy.

## Discography

### As leader/co-leader

| Release year | Title | Label | Personnel/Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1989 | Hand Made | Lyra | |
| 1992 | The Other Name | Motive | Solo piano and duos with Mat Maneri (electric violin), Erik Kerr (drums) |
| 1994 | In Time | Leo | Duo with Mat Maneri (electric violin) |
| 1994 | Between Speech & Song | Cadence | As Pakula/Karayorgis/Rosenthal; Eric Pakula (alto sax), Pandelis Karayorgis (piano), Jonathan Robinson (bass), Eric Rosenthal (drums), guest: Mat Maneri (electric violin) |
| 1995 | Lines | Accurate | Quartet co-led by Eric Pakula (alto sax), with Nate McBride, Jonathan Robinson (bass), Eric Rosenthal, John McLellan (drums) |
| 1998 | Lift & Poise | Leo | Duo with Mat Maneri (violin), guests: Joe Maneri (clarinet), John Lockwood (bass) |
| 1998 | Heart and Sack | Leo | Trio with Nate McBride (bass), Randy Peterson (drums) |
| 2001 | Let It | Cadence | Duos and solos with Nate McBride (bass) |
| 2001 | No Such Thing | Boxholder | Collaborative trio with Ken Vandermark (clarinet, tenor sax), Nate McBride (bass) |
| 2001 | Blood Ballad | Leo | Trio with Nate McBride (bass), Randy Peterson (drums) |
| 2002 | Disambiguation | Leo | Quintet co-led by Mat Maneri (violin), with Tony Malaby (tenor sax), Michael Formanek (bass), Randy Peterson (drums) |
| 2004 | Seventeen Pieces | Leo | Solo piano |
| 2005 | We Will Make a Home for You | Clean Feed | As the mi3; trio with Nate McBride (bass), Curt Newton (drums) |
| 2007 | Free Advice | Clean Feed | As the mi3; trio with Nate McBride (bass), Curt Newton (drums) |
| 2007 | Chicago Approach | Nuscope | Collaborative trio with Guillermo Gregorio (clarinet), Nate McBride (bass) |
| 2007 | Foreground Music | Okka Disk | Duo with Ken Vandermark (tenor sax, clarinet) |
| 2008 | Betwixt | hatOLOGY | As the mi3; trio with Nate McBride (bass), Curt Newton (drums) |
| 2011 | System of 5 | hatOLOGY | Quintet with Matt Langley (tenor sax), Jeff Galindo (trombone), Jef Charland (bass), Luther Gray (drums) |
| 2012 | Instruments Of Change | Not Two | As the band Construction Party; quartet with Forbes Graham (trumpet), Dave Rempis (alto sax), Luther Gray (drums) |
| 2013 | Window And Doorway | Driff | Collaborative trio with Guillermo Gregorio (clarinet), Steve Swell (trombone) |
| 2013 | Circuitous | Driff | Quintet with Dave Rempis (tenor, alto & baritone sax), Keefe Jackson (tenor sax, bass & contrabass clarinet), Nate McBride (bass), Frank Rosaly (drums) |
| 2013 | Cocoon | Driff | Trio with Jef Charland (bass), Luther Gray (drums) |
| 2014 | Afterimage | Driff | Quintet with Dave Rempis (tenor, alto & baritone sax), Keefe Jackson (tenor sax, bass & contrabass clarinet), Nate McBride (bass), Frank Rosaly (drums) |
| 2015 | Matchbox | Driff | As the band Matchbox; quartet with Jorrit Dijkstra (alto sax), Nate McBride (bass), Curt Newton (drums) |
| 2015 | Bathysphere | Driff | As the band Bathysphere. |

With The Whammies

* The Whammies Play the Music of Steve Lacy (Driff, 2012)
* The Whammies Play the Music of Steve Lacy, Vol. 2 (Driff, 2013)
* The Whammies Play the Music of Steve Lacy, Live Vol. 3 (Driff, 2014)

### As sideman

With Guillermo Gregorio

* Approximately (hatART, 1996)
* Red Cube (hatOLOGY, 1999)
