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Tassos Spiliotopoulos Releases "Archipelagos" on F-IRE Records

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Originally from Greece, Tassos Spiliotopoulos moved to London in 2000 and has studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (Mmus) and Trinity College of Music (Bmus, Hons). During that time Tassos also attended seminars at the School for Improvisational Music in New York City where he studied and performed with Ralph Alessi, Ravi Coltrane, Brad Shepik, Jim Black and Drew Gress. During the past few years Tassos has been touring with his own band as well as numerous other creative projects, performing in clubs and festivals in the UK, Germany, France, Greece, Sweden, Spain and USA. He has worked with artists such as Kenny Wheeler, Gary Husband, Asaf Sirkis, Tim Garland, Dimitri Vassilakis, Eileen Hunter, John Parricelli, Mike Outram, John Etheridge, and more. In 2005, Tassos formed his own quartet with three of the most talented musicians he has been playing with, Asaf Sirkis, Robin Fincker and Yaron Stavi. The idea was to create a fresh sounding, contemporary group that combines lyrical, extended-form compositions with high energy improvising. The Quartet's first album 'Wait For Dusk' was released by Konnex Records in 2006 (CAT KCD5166). Tassos is currently leading a new trio and has just completed recording their new album, to be released 24 May 2010.

Opting for a more intimate sound on 'Archipelagos' Tassos continues to develop his compositional approach which blends contemporary Jazz with modern classical, folk and even rock fusion. The album's eight tracks offer a guitar oriented, European sound that is both intricate and powerful but at times becomes reflective and mesmerizing. The Trio (Yaron Stavi-bass and Asaf Sirkis, drums) interprets with a range of colours, from energetic to almost brittle and strong band interplay is always at the core of their sound. The album also features two very special guests, Kenny Wheeler (Trumpet) and John Parricelli (Guitar). The two contemporary masters who need no introductions have been a great inspiration and influence for Spiliotopoulos, who has tailored their featuring compositions around them.

Yaron Stavi plays both Double Bass and Bass Guitar in various styles of music such as Jazz, Classical, Rock and World Music. He studied in Berlin (Germany) Classical music and played with many orchestras and conductors around Europe. He was principal bass player of The Mahler Youth Orchestra in which he played with Seiji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez, Marris Jansons, Ivan Fischer and more. In 2002 Yaron moved to live in London. He is a member of Gilad Atzmon's band The Orient House Ensemble which tours intensively around the UK and Europe and won The BBC Jazz Award for Best CD of the year 2003. He has played with the world famous violinist Nigel Kennedy in his Jazz band. He has also performed with many Jazz musicians such as Peter King, John Ethridge, Julian Siegel, Gene Calderazzo, Stepehen Keogh, Estelle Kokot and many more. He is to be heard on Robert Wyatt's and Phil Manzanera's (Roxy Music) latest albums. In 2005 he recorded with David Gilmour for his new album.

Asaf Sirkis was born in Israel in 1969. In the early 90s, having studied drums for seven years with David Ritch, he started playing professionally with many jazz, rock, and free jazz artists in Israel such us; Harold Rubin, Albert Beger, Ari Brown, and Emmmanuel Bex to name a few. He played in various venues and festivals including the Jazz in the Red Sea Festival and the Israel Festival. Asaf was also involved in a variety of ethnic musics, playing with different klezmer groups and Middle Eastern music artists such as Yair Dalal and Eyal Sela. From 1994 he recorded and toured Europe with the Amir Perelman trio. In April 1999 Asaf moved to London where he soon became a part of the UK jazz and world music scene. During that year he started working with Adel Salameh, a Palestinian Aud player/composer, as well as Steve Lodder and Mike Outram with whom he reformed his own band, The Inner Noise. Between 2000 and 2005 Asaf was a regular member of Gilad Atzmon's Orient House Ensemble. This band has recorded four albums for Enja Records and toured Europe frequently. Their album 'Exile' has won 'Best CD of the Year' at the BBC Jazz Award 2003 as well as in Time-Out 'Reviewer's Pick' (by John Lewis). The band was nominated for the BBC jazz award 2004 as 'Best Band'. Asaf also plays/played/recorded with other artists in the UK and in Europe, including Chick Corea, Tim Garland, Larry Coryell, Gary Husband, John Taylor, Norma Winstone, Lenny Stern, Julian Siegel Quartet, John Law Peter King, Stan Sulzman, Barbaros Erkose (Turkey), Antonio Zambrini, Ari Brown (Chicago), Bela Szakcsi-Lokatos (Hungary), Glauco Venier (Italy), Yuri Goloubev (Russia), Klaus Gesing (Austria), Christoph Spendel (Germany), Eyal Maoz (NY), Sigi Finkel (Austria), Carlos Barretto (Portugal), Simon Fisher Turner, Phil Robson, Arnie Somogyi, Martin Speake, Mark Latimer, Reem Kelani, Christine Tobin, Nicolas Meier, Tom Arthurs, John Etherigde and more.

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