Nikolas Skordas on wind instruments (saxophones and flute, tarogato and tsabouna, a greek bagpipe) and Stefanos Chytiris (drums and percussion) have been friends and collaborators for years. Playing as a duo they have been reviewed here before, exploring the boundaries of the free jazz sax-drums tradition. But they have played alongside many more (more recently Chytiris has been a part of Pascal Niggenkemper’s large ensemble), as their will and musical thinking always tends to collective works.
Spiritual Forces, a quite telling title about this recording, is the first that comes out as a trio with Noraoto Nanashi on the double bass. The presence on Noraoto’s playing, humble and low key, adds up to the spirituality that Skordas gives the listener with the way he approaches his wind instruments. I dare to say that Skordas, at least partly, re-imagines his Balkan tradition in every track of this CD, a fact absolutely true on track seven where under a barrage of free, but so concentrated, drumming by Chytiris he encapsulates the tradition of mountain musics throughout Greece. Noraoto uses the bow in order to create atmospheres, while Chytiris manages, as ever, a great balance between being an individual player and playing alongside his fellow musicians.
Noraoto’s presence in this music is so lyrical but at the same time almost invisible. The music created by the double bass (as I was listening to a lot of Angus MacLise lately) is rooted deeply into the minimalism of eastern traditions. It felt to me that, even though Noraoto is the newcomer in this music, this presence in integral for the CD.
Each musician is a spiritual force here. Even though, having listened to many of his past and recent recordings, I expected that from Skordas, Chytiris managed to catch me of guard with his vibrant, relaxed and atmospheric playing.
This self released trio really deserves a listening as it creates solid ground between the free jazz and free improv milieu and the, always on the verge of being trance-like, musics from the Balkans.
@koultouranafigo
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