Tuesday 14 of September 2021 I 21:00 I Patio CCCC

With a lot of pleasure, Jazz in Progress Festival is welcoming one of the most important voices of the last decades in Greek music universe. Elli Paspala is coming with a performance that stole the hearts of all music lovers in Athens, in the winter of 2019. Diving deep into the traditional jazz, the important performer highlights in the most characteristic way one more side of her performing abilities. Accompanied by four top Greek jazz and not only, musicians, David Lynch on saxophone, Takis Farazis on piano, Petros Varthakouris on double bass and Vasilis Podaras (Billi Pod) on percussion, she presents a program of songs by composers like Cole Porter and George Gershwin, some of which have been sung and become famous by top voices like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. Born in New York, Elli Paspala carries inside her the atmosphere, the feeling and the essence of this great music that marked last century and will remain alive for ever.

Cast:
Voice: Elli Paspala
Saxophone: David Lynch
Piano: Takis Farazis
Double bass: Petros Varthakouris
Percussion: Vasilis Podaras (Billy Pod)
Sound engineer: Giannis Toundas

Bio
Elli Paspala | voice
Elli Paspala was born in Nwe York. She studied in Manhattan School of Music, while attended vocal lessons with the soprano Judith Raskin and acting lessons with the actor William Hickey. Then she took part in concerts in the USA and Canada, as well as in opera performances. In 1982 she came to Athens and was established by her cooperation with Manos Chatzidakis, which lasted until 1988. She was also a protagonist in the theatrical play of Grigoris Valtinos about the life of Anton Chekhov.
Her personal discography started in 1988 with the album Under the light of the moon. In 1990 she recorded the Island of the Lotus Eaters, an album which next year was also recorded the year after in London with the English lyrics of Laurence Roman and the tittle Living a lie. In 1993 she sung in Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall in the tribute under the tittle The Greek Song in Megaron. In 1994 she cooperated for the first time with Stamatis Kraounakis for the album Music Picture – Stiletto Heel, while the same year she gave concerts in Holland for the Contemporary Greek Song Festival and in 1995, as part of the celebration of the Olympic Games, she participated in a series of artistic events in Atlanta, USA. During the winter of 1995-96 she made appearances in Charama, while cooperating with Panagiotis Kalatzopoulos in the album with the tittle For the habit of love. In the Musics of the World she cooperated with Maria Farantouri and Savina Giannatou. Then, the albums Trio (2001), In Which God Should I Believe (2002) and The Dance of Stars (2007) followed, from her participation in performances with David Lynch and Stavros Lantsias.
At the same time, she worked in live concerts with Evanthia Reboutsika, Panagiotis Kalatzopoulos and the Street Orchestra. She has collaborated with other important creators like Mikis Theodorakis, Dionissis Savvopoulos, Nikos Xidakis, Stamos Semsis, Lena Platonos and others, while she has also collaborated from time to time with charity organisations and non-profit companies like Greenpeace, Médecins sans frontières, International Amnesty and others.

David Lynch I saxophone
David Lynch is a respected composer and performer who lives and works in Greece during the last 25 years. Of Irish and Eastern European ancestry, he was born and raised in Los Angeles. He studied jazz music with James Moody, Charles Lloyd, Ralph Bowen and John Coltrane’s associate, Garvin Buschell. He started his career by playing in several clubs and studios with a variety of big swing orchestras and at a very young age he received music awards and scholarships, continuing his studies at Dick Grove Music Workshops.
At age 21, his need to broaden his musical and personal horizons brought him to Europe. His insatiable quest for new and creative forms of expression brought him in contact with some of the most outstanding musicians, writers and singers from many countries and from different musical cultures. After an extended period of traveling, he settled in Athens, where the environment seemed right for introspection and exploration.
David Lynch, since has played on hundreds of albums, numerous movie soundtracks and has co-founded several bands (ISKRA, Special Request, Human Touch, Duo Faros, The Missing Lynch, The Heavy Metal Brass Band). In 2003, along with Yiorgos Kaloudis, he co-founded Duo Faros, an innovative duet which creates on-the-spot loops and spontaneous in-depth arrangements.
In 2004 he recorded new arrangements of Manos Hadjidakis’ songs, with Elli Paspala as a singer and Blaine Reinenger, Alkinoos Ioannidis, Human Touch and Raining Pleasure as guests. In 2006 he started working on The Missing Lynch project, with new compositions and original songs. Recently, mainly because of his collaboration with saxophonist Oprica Ivancea, of Roma musicians’ ancestry, he founded The Heavy Metal Brass Band, a jazz and Greek brass ensemble.
As a solo artist, David Lynch has released three CD’s: Lit’l Song, Wandering Home, which was recorded live at the Athens Concert Hall, and Music with a View, for which he received the 1st Composition Award of the Athinorama Theatre Awards in 2002. He has also written music for film, theatre, radio, television and dance. He has played with Arturo Sandoval, Trilok Gurtu, Arild Anderson, Milcho Leviev, The Temptations, Barry White, Galaxy 2 Galaxy, Joe Higgs, as well as with Haig Yazdjian, Eleni Karaindrou, Elli Paspala, Alkinoos Ioannidis, Thanos Mikroutsikos, George Dalaras, Pavlos Sidiropoulos, Kyriakos Sfetsas and others.
Of major importance in his musical journey was his collaboration with the late traditional clarinettist Vassilis Soukas. This experience, and its lasting influence, was the crossroad leading David Lynch deeper in his own spirit of “Greekness” and in the discovery of his internal “world music”.

Takis Farazis | piano
Takis Farazis was born in Athens in 1964 and started playing music very young. In 1977 he started taking classic piano lessons in the Hellinikon Conservatory and graduated in 1984, having piano and music harmony diplomas with excellent grade. At the same time, he was playing jazz and collaborated with a lot of Greek musicians. In 1983 he attended music lessons with the Hungarian jazz pianist Bela Lakatos and one year later he became a member of the group Iskra, with which he presented some of his own compositions. He has composed music for the National Theatre and more concretely for ancient drama performances into the Epidaurus festival. He has also written music for the cinema. Takis Farazis has collaborated with a great number of Greek composers, singers and musicians in several recordings and concerts in Greece and abroad, as orchestrator and pianist. His musical approach combines a large range of styles, balancing among classic, jazz and world music. His first personal CD Oniremata was released in 1996. He participated as musician in the album The Athens Concert of the legendary saxophonist Charles Lloyd. Apart from composer and music performer, he works also as a piano teacher.

Petros Varthakouris | double bass
Petros Varthakouris he was born and raised in Paros Island, where he took piano lessons and music theory with Jeffry Carson. At the age of 19 years old comes to Athens and monitor guitar lessons at the Philippos NAKAS Conservatory and jazz harmony with Yiotis Samaras, while working as a guitarist in important groups of the city. His next step is studying double bass in Modern Conservatory of Thessaloniki with Evgenios Politis. Playing electric and acoustic bass, has collaborated with well-known artists, like Pantelis Thalassinos, Haris Alexiou, Orpheas Peridis etc. in live performances, recordings and orchestrations. At the same time has a strong presence in the Greek jazz scene (collaborations with Stavros Lantsias, Antonis Ladopoulos, etc.) and participates in Greek and international festivals as a key associate of Vassilis Rakopoulos, Haig Yazdjian.

Vasilis Podaras (Billy Pod) | percussion
Vasilis Podaras was born in Athens in 1988. He started playing music as a kid and drums became his passion since he was 9 years old. He studied classic piano and violin and later he graduated and took his master on jazz drums from the Ionian University. He was honoured as one of the 10 best drummers in 2019 from the French magazine Batterie. He has played in international festivals and places in Europe, USA and Asia, like Pori Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, Taichung Jazz Festival and Made in New York Jazz Gala. Since many years he is one of the most sought-after drummers in Greece.
He has collaborated with international artists like Manfred Schoof, JD Walter, Rufus Reid, Craig Bailey, Olivier Temime, Tivon Pennicott, Gilad Atzmon and all the Greek jazz artists. He is also a founding member of the Next Step Quintet, while his first album Drums to heal Society, was released in 2019. Since the beginning of 2020 he lives and works in London and this autumn he will record his second personal album, collaborating with British musicians. 

OFFICIAL AIR CARRIER SPONSOR: AEGEAN | A Star Alliance Member
OFFICIAL FERRY/SHIPPING TRANSPORT SPONSOR: Minoan Lines
OFFICIAL HOSTING SPONSOR: Metaxa Hospitality Group | | Karatarakis hotels & restaurants