Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Mimis Plessas & Christos Rafalides - We Two (Emarel Music 2012)



It was a great honor and pleasure to have Mimis Plessas, Evi Siamanda, and Christos Rafalides here at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The two full houses of enraptured listeners gave both their performances standing ovations.
Mimis Plessas is one of the most lyrically compelling composers of our age, and Evi Siamanda has a radiantly expressive voice that found new dimensions of feeling in all the material she explored with Mimis on piano and the creative virtuosity of Christos Rafalides on vibes.  A night we will all remember and treasure.
Thank you for all you do. --Todd Barkan, Programming Director / Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola / Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York
When Christos asked me if we could play something together, I responded favorably. But after listening to his version of a tune I love, All The Things You Are , adapted to a 7/8 time signature, I told him without hesitation: Son, with your talent, the only thing I can play with you is chess. This is how the legendary Mimis Plessas describes his first meeting with Christos Rafalides. In the music world two artists performing or recording together is something that happens all the time. Nothing more trivial nothing more usual than a duet. But on rare occasions two artists click together so well; the match is so perfect, that the duet becomes anything but usual, anything but trivial. It s a perfect match. It s magic. 
Mimis Plessas and Christos Rafalides were born in the same corner of the world about half a century apart. They walked the same hills, swam the same waters and listened to the same sounds. At some point or another they both  sat on the same bar stools of jazz clubs in the village and  performed on the same stages. Just at different times. So, when the two got together,  Mimis Plessas hitting the first note on the piano and Christos Rafalides on the vibraphone, amazing music emerged music composed so brilliantly, that although originally arranged for traditional instrumentation and vocals, it retains all its freshness and fervor in these brand new interpretations. 
We Two, the first encounter of two outstanding virtuosos. We Two, talent that bridges generations, music that transcends time. We Two recorded so that we too can feel the magic.
Enjoy.
Stelios Taketzis
New York, December 2012

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