SLAMCD592 Ada Pitsou – Amorgos

‘Amorgos’ is one of the most eastern Greek islands in the South Aegean Sea; it is the retreat where Ada Pitsou composes her music and the source of inspiration for this suite of ten instrumental pieces.

Here in her music she conveys the beauty and inner aspect of the places she knows and loves in a discreet convergence of different stylistic forms of contemporary music. To record the music she selected choice musicians who she felt would sympathise with her work.

Dionisis Vervitsiotis: violin
Angelos Liakakis: cello
Thodoros Kotepanos: piano
Nikos Sidirokastritis: drums

“Showing that the SLAM label isn’t just a venue for improv, this recording brings a set of miniatures for a quartet with a structure that is neither classical nor jazz…Amorgos is the most eastern of the Greek Cyclades islands (with a population of a few thousand) and this lends some of the vibe to the set – both in terms of the musical palette used and the mood of the pieces. Not only that, but the island itself contributes to the pieces, with recordings of lapping water, rustling grasses and blustering wind all featuring in the edits (and complementing the playing of the instruments).” – Chris Baber, Jazz Views

“Amorgos isn’t a jazz album, but it’s on a label run by a jazz and free improv musician, George Haslam, with an ear for intriguing world music…the music is mostly quite gentle and evocative. As one reviewer noted, there’s an ECM feel, cool and European, with influences from the less radical end of 20th century classical composition. The opening track, Mouros, for solo piano, features environmental sounds of dripping and splashing water. The gentle, melancholic Giasemi juxtaposes sounds of howling wind against strings and drums. Hora is livelier, more dance-like, with scurrying percussion, while Stroubos features resonant, singing cello; Potamos is performed by piano and drums.” – Andy Hamilton, Jazz Journal

“Amorgos is not a jazz CD but a recording of 12 compositions by Ada Pitsou played by a quartet with sounds of nature [wind, water, thunder] as a component of the composition/music. The music is engaging and unpretentious and suggests a fragility and lightness. Amorgos indeed.” – Cadence Magazine

All compositions by Ada Pitsou
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Kostas Bokos at Studio 19, Athens, during June 2018

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