DIMITRI VASSILAKIS

Candid Recording(s):

Websites:

www.myspace.com/dimitrivassilakis

Biography:

Greece’s most famous jazz musician may have played with some of the best there is (including, er, the President of the USA) but he’s never happier than back home in Athens, not only holding two teaching posts at the University of Athens and the Nakas Conservertoire, but also hosting two national TV shows and his own national radio show.

It was in the Hellenic capital some 27 years ago that Vassilakis, as with so many talented musicians, started learning to play at a very young age, first the piano, then guitar and violin. Musically talented and academically bright Dimitri later undertook a Chemical Engineering degree at Athens University, and signed a record deal with EMI for his own pop band.

After graduation, and with the aid of the Onasis Foundation, Dimitri came to Britain to study at the London College of Music. Five years later he had passed with honours, gained a Diploma in Classical Saxophone and won the coveted London College of Music Prize. Around this time the live circuit opened up and Dimitri started playing at London venues including the Bass Clef and the Barbican. But his academia didn’t end, and with a scholarship from the British Council, Dimitri continued onto advanced studies in jazz saxophone and composition, again passing with flying colours and winning the LRAM Diploma in Jazz Teaching.

Not long after coming out into the ‘real world’, Dimitri Vassilakis returned to Athens, where he was a founder member of International Association of Schools of Jazz. Both as a teacher and as a musician in his own right, he has played and conducted workshops in every European country and in many parts of the world.

In the summer of 1999 CANDID Records released his debut album, ‘Secret Path’ (CCD79765). Recorded with almost entirely Greek personnel, the album was a highly accomplished homage to Greek artistic and philosophic endeavour, and garnered excellent press reviews. "Simply the best thing I’ve heard in years" Sound & Hi-fi Magazine (Greece). With the help of the Greek Foreign Ministry, a world tour followed that included collaborations with artists such as Abdullah Ibrahim, Ralph Peterson, Andy Shepard and David Liebman. "Their duet showed that Ibrahim and Vassilakis have much in common as players" The Star (South Africa).

At the end of last year the Greek President Kostisstefanopoulos invited Dimitri to play at the official celebrations to mark 25 years of Greek Democracy, and shortly afterwards, on a visit to Greece, the (in)famous saxman Bill Clinton got up on stage to jam with him! In his homeland Dimitri is universally known, both as a performer and as a media personality, his latest TV show being not dissimilar to ‘Later… with Jools Holland’. He has also performed with both the Greek National and Radio Orchestras.