A graduate of the Music Gymnasium and Lyceum of Pallini and the Ionian University in Greece, pianist, composer and Inner Circle Music recording artist Lefteris Kordis has established himself as a versatile musician with a unique voice in the Mediterranean Jazz idiom. He grew up in Athens, Greece, where he studied, performed, and composed based on a wide spectrum of genres including Jazz, Classical, Modernist/Avant-Garde, Greek Folk, and Byzantine chant. He has performed worldwide with Steve Lacy, Sheila Jordan, Joe Lovano, Greg Osby, Robin Eubanks, Mikis Theodorakis, and Vasilis Saleas, among other musicians, dancers, poets, and design artists. Lefteris is a professor at Berklee and at the Global Jazz Institute teaching alongside John Patitucci, Danilo Perez, Terri Lynn Carrington, and Joe Lovano. In the past he served as a professor and course developer at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he pursued a master’s and a doctorate degree with the support of the Fulbright, Onassis, Ruth Shapiro and Gerondelis Foundations. His doctoral dissertation focuses on Charlie Banacos’s pedagogy of jazz improvisation. Lefteris teaches improvisation, composition, and theory privately at his home studio in Brookline, using a unique cross-disciplinary approach that involves colors, global musical styles, physiology, paintings, story telling, poetry, dance, movies, and sports.
Lefteris and his mentor Dimos Dimitriadis created and directed the "Aqua Jazz,” an Ionian University sponsored program that builds bridges between folk musicians and jazz improvisers in Greece and the East Mediterranean region. He has recorded six CD albums as a leader and has performed in major venues in Europe and America such as the Panama Jazz Festival, the Toronto Jazz Festival, and Carnegie Hall.
Artist’s Website: www.leftchordmusic.com --- Contact: leftchordmusic@gmail.com
"A pianist with skill, touch, musicality and a gift for making songs from songs. Plus, he can swing! Give a listen" ~ Bob Brookmeyer
“Talent like his is rare." ~ Steve Lacy
