By Fotis Nikolakopoulos
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