Where Classical Meets Jazz

THE TRIO: The project 'Melos' was presented by the trio Tsabropoulos/Lechner/Gandhi at the Jazz+ festival in Sofia on June 14. (Anton Balakchiev/Jazz+ Festival)

SOFIA, Bulgaria—The fifth annual Jazz+ Festival this year saved the best for last—a jazz trio presented their latest project, “Melos” to Bulgarian audiences on the closing day, June 14.

“Melos” (which means “melody” in Greek), is the fruit of a collaboration between a core duo, pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos and cellist Anja Lechner, and the self-taught Italian percussionist U.T. Gandhi.

In the extraordinary acoustics of Sofia’s Bulgaria Hall, the three talented musicians dug into traditional Greek-Byzantine hymns and melodies, some based on compositions by the legendary philosopher Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff and newly arranged by Tsabropoulos and Lechner.

Presenting the project in Sofia was an exciting experience for the musicians. After the composition was performed, pianist Tsabropoulos shared with the audience: “In Bulgaria music is at quite a high level. I am coming from a classical field, and that is why I truly appreciate the extent of music education in your country—you have brilliant composers, conductors, and musicians.”

The ‘Melos’ Project

In the words of the recording company ECM, the album “Melos” presents a “polychromatic mosaic” based on fragments of Byzantine hymns. Tsabropoulos, who is the composer of 12 out of a total 15 melodies, deepens the notion that Greece serves as a gate to the Orient, but in a more spacious and expressive way.

According to Ray Comiskey from the Irish Times, “… the sublimely beautiful cellist shares with the pianist a rapport that transcends intimacy; both inhabit the music to become conduits for it. Percussion is added and improvisation is given more scope. The results, bridging classical and Eastern sources, are not only exquisite but also multilayered.”

Listening to the album, allows one to fly to the Balkan peninsula of the past, climb the Tibetan heights, and even, finally, swing to jesting Bossa Nova-like rhythms.

The compositions have pleasant melodies and are rich and comprehensive like life. There is sadness in them but also hope and a feeling of new beginnings. There are dreams, beautifully presented by the master piano; a touch of melancholy, added by the cello; and some spice, delicately interjected by the percussion.
 
Among the most notable compositions are “Vocalise,” “Gift Of Dreams,” “Melos,” “Reflections,” “Tibetan Dance,” and “Promenade.”

Remarkable performers

Greek Tsabropoulos and German Lechner are originally classical musicians, but each has significant experience with improvisation.
 
Pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos studied at the Juilliard School in New York—one of the world’s most prestigious performing arts’ conservatories. Among his teachers were Rudolf Serkin and Tatjana Nikolayeva. With the encouragement of prolific composer and jazz musician Chick Corea, he began to improvise in jazz contexts.

Cellist Anja Lechner was taught by Jan Polasek, Heinrich Schiff, and Janos Starker. She is one of the founders of the Rosamunde Quartet whose recordings were featured on Valentin Silvestrov’s Grammy-nominated chamber music album “Leggiero, pesante.”

Italian drummer U.T. Gandhi has recorded with Argentinean virtuoso Dino Saluzzi and played with many Italian and world-class musicians like Gianluigi Trovesi and Lee Konitz.

For more about the “Melos” project and its artists, see http://player.ecmrecords.com/melos