“Nikos Chatzitsakos Tiny Big Band” was formed in 2018. In this project, Nikos arranges jazz standards for a unique instrumentation of six horns and a piano trio, plus some guest appearances on vocals, guitar, and vibraphone. Although this instrumentation is rarely seen in our days, it was common in the heyday of swing music, before the appearance of big bands. Similar to a film director that brings the plot and characters of an old script to our modern world, Nikos connects the tradition of jazz music and its repertoire with post-bop, modern aesthetics and harmonic soundscapes.
Born in Athens, Greece, bassist, arranger, and composer Nikos Chatzitsakos is an award-winning musician as a member of Ralph Peterson’s GenNext Big Band and leader of the Nikos Chatzitsakos Tiny Big Band & Quartet. Influenced by Black American music of the 1940s-60s, he attempts to find new ways to honor the era and perform it and connect it to other idioms.
Nikos is a graduate of Berklee College Of Music in Boston, where he studied performance and jazz composition with a full-tuition scholarship. He continued his graduate studies at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute on a full-tuition scholarship.
Nikos has performed alongside distinguished musicians such as Ralph Peterson, Frank Lacy, Antonio Hart, Quiana Lynell, Sarah Reich, and George Kontrafouris. Nikos has also taken the stage at venues including, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Lincoln Center, DC Jazz Festival, Scullers Jazz Club, “Jazzed In Siberia” festival, The Berklee Performance Center (BPC), and the Onassis Cultural Center.
Musicians:
LIAN ZAC – VOCALS (1,5,11)
WILL MALLARD – TRUMPET (EXCEPT 4)
ROBERT MAC VEGA-DOWDA – TRUMPET & FLUGELHORN (1,4,5,9,11)
ERIC NAKANISHI – ALTO & SOPRANO SAX
ART BADEN – TENOR SAX
BRANDON LIN – TROMBONE
GABRIEL NEKRUTMAN – BARI SAX
GIANMARCO FERRI – GUITAR (4,11)
VID JAMNIK – VIBRAPHONE (2,3,5,10)
MARCO BIRRO – PIANO
NIKOS CHATZITSAKOS – DOUBLE BASS
KAROL ZABKA – DRUMS
Boooking info: www.nikoschatzitsakos.com
nchatzitsakos@gmail.com / 617.870.9172
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