George Trantalidis
George Trantalidis is the living history of Greek jazz, one of the most important figures of the Greek jazz scene.
He started his career in the early 60s playing in the clubs of the time.
In 1970, at the age of eighteen, he will play with the legendary rock band Socrates and together with Vagelis Papathanasiou, in 1974, they recorded the historic album “Phos” in London.
As a session musician he participates in a large number of Greek music records.
In 1978, together with Markos Alexiou and Giorgos Filippidis, they form “Sphinx” and release the first jazz album in Greece with the eponymous title “Sphinx”. In 1980 he represents Greece in an international jazz festival and records in Hungary his first two EMI albums with international musicians, “clarification” and “one two three four”. In 1983 he mixed Greek traditional music with jazz on his records “Hores”, “Mesogeios”, “Hairetismos” and “Erisma” with the collaboration of two great Greek traditional musicians, George Koros and NikosSarangudas. These records led George Trantalidis to be invited in 1986 by G. Menuhin, Ravi Shankar and Sonny Rollins to the “Jazz India Festival” and “Singapore Jazz Festival”.
At the same time, from 1983 to 1989, he was the producer of the ERT radio show “Jazz in the Second” with leading guests Greek jazz musicians such as: M. Alexiou, G. Filippidis, T. Paterelis, P. Samaras, G. Kontrafouris, P. Benetatos, N. Politis, D. Lynch, T. Barberis and the internationally renowned Chip Jackson, John Hicks, J. Williams, B. Lakatos, T. Lakatos and many others.
Since 1989 he has been working on his own studio creating his personal records and productions for elite Greek and foreign artists. In parallel, he has created a core of Greek and foreign artists with whom he plays in Greece and abroad. In 2004 he participated as composer and orchestrator in the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games with the composition “Karpos” (in the remake of Manos Hatzidakis “The North Star”).
George Trantalidis collaborated with many great musicians such as Socrates, M. Alexiou, G. Filippidis, T. Paterelis, P. Samaras, G. Kontrafouris, Bella Lakatos, Tony Lakatos, George Voukan, Kouno Smith, Alex Foster, Laszlo Attila, Laszlo Gardony, Gilad Atzmon, Nick Gravenites, Chip Jackson, John Hicks, J.Williams, Andy Sheppard, Stepko Gut, Toto Blanke, Tata Guines, Rudolf Dašek and many others.
2011 saw the release of Global Vision’s CD, which received excellent reviews in the US.
Finally, in September 2022, his latest album, titled LOOKING BACK was released, which refers to his childhood experiences and musical lifelong influences.
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