About the members of the group:
Leo Genovese - piano
In less than a decade’s time, Argentinian pianist Leonardo Genovese has already established a solid reputation as an instrumentalist and composer who is not afraid to explore the lesser known corners of the musical landscape.
Born and raised in Venado Tuerto, Argentina, in 1979, Genovese discovered music through a variety of sources. At home, his mother played classical piano. In addition, he gravitated to the rock and pop – and later the blues and jazz – of his native country as well as the U.S.
He began playing piano when he was only five or six, although he admits that he didn’t practice much and didn’t really appreciate the range and versatility of the instrument until his teenage years. When he was 15, his older brother started playing the piano as well, and made his way into a series of rock bands. Suddenly, music had an energy and an appeal that Genovese hadn’t recognized earlier.
The creative awakening took him to Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2001.
Despite the language and cultural barriers, he learned plenty at Berklee – under the tutelage of numerous high-caliber teachers, including Danilo Perez, Joanne Brackeen, Frank Carlberg and Ed Tomassi. He graduated in 2003 and immediately began performing and recording.
His first album was a small, independently released set called Haikus II, released in 2004. Unlocked followed in 2008. In hindsight, Genovese sees these two recordings as little more than quickly crafted snapshots of where he was on the artistic continuum at the time.
In between the two recordings, Genovese developed a collaborative relationship with Grammy winning bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding, a fellow Berklee alum. Since 2005, he has toured with Spalding throughout the U.S., South American, Europe, Asia, Africa and elsewhere. Spalding returns the favor by providing vocals on numerous tracks on Seeds. In addition, she also assists with the songwriting on “Portuguese Mirror” one of the most satisfying tracks in the 11-song set.
When he’s not touring around the globe with various groups Genovese – who is currently based in New York – also plays with a loosely assembled group called the Chromatic Gauchos, whose core membership includes Bob Gulloti, Dan Blake and John Lockwood. This threesome, along with Spalding and percussionist Sergio Miranda, appears prominently on Seeds.
Since then, he has performed with several legends within the jazz world such as Jack Dejohnette, Wayne Shorter and Joe Lovano to name a few. He was recently awarded a Grammy award for his work with Wayne Shorter as well as for his playing alongside bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding.
Dimitris Klonis- drums
Dimitris Klonis was born in Athens in 1984. By the age of 14 he begins his studies on the drumset under the guidance of Petros Daktilidis. Later on the great John Floros enters his life and as a result he passes him the drumming knowledge and legacy that he was taught from the great master Alan Dawson.
In 2010 and slightly after Dimitris’ graduation from the National Technical University of Athens, he was immediately accepted in Conservatorium Van Amsterdam but also in Rotterdam Jazz Academy. He studied for a very short period in Amsterdam where he had the chance to take lessons from Lucas Van Merwijk, Maurcel Serierse and Victor Oskam. He has also studied jazz harmony with Gregory Batsis and holds a degree in harmony (2009) and a degree in counterpoint (2012). He has attended clinics an private lessons with giants like Adam Nussbaum, Kendrick Scott, Jojo Mayer and Akira Jimbo.
Within the years he has collaborated with great local jazz musicians such as Yiotis Samaras, George Kontrafouris, Pantelis Mpenetatos, Takis Paterelis, Kostas Konstantinou, Dimitris Sevdalis and Vasso Dimitriou as well as some foreign artists like Femi Temowo (Roots,Amy Winehouse), Michael Weisberger(Milo Z), Aline de Lima, Adedeji Adetayo, Yoel Soto. He has also collaborated with Foivos Delivorias, Martha Fritzila , Petros Theotokatos and Doros Dimosthenous. He currently lives in Athens, where he is involved in lots of projects, gigging, recording, and teaching.
Sakir Ozan Uygan-
percussion
Åžakir was born in Burdur, Turkey on 14 September 1986. He started to play darbuka at the age of five and was given the Atso Anadolu Fine Arts Award in 2000. Later in 2004, he was accepted at the State Turkish Music Conservatory of Ege University, in Izmir.
Many events took place during his university years as he started performing in countries such as Tunisia and Switzerland also gave numerous concerts and workshops around Turkey. Åžakir has performed with a wide range of musicians from different styles and who belong to various musical traditions, such as Turkish legend NeÅŸet ErtaÅŸ, rising folk star UÄŸur Onur and Palestinian singer Sanaa Moussa. Since 2015 he has been featured on several projects including Apostolos Sideris, starting with their collaboration as part of the group MESEL in Istanbul as well as with Palestinian singer Sanaa Moussa, with which they had toured around Europe and the Middle East. Since recently, Sakir has been touring and has been featured as a special artist with the great Irish-Greek multi-instrumentalist Ross Daly, performing with his various ensembles both in Europe as well as in Turkey.
Giannis Poulios - violin
Giannis Poulios was born in Bruschal, Germany and grew up in Katerini, Greece. He attended the Music High School of Katerini and later the department of traditional music at the University of Arta as well as Yildiz National Conservatory in Istanbul. Currently he is an active member of both the Greek and the international music scene both as a performer and as a recording artist, having collaborated with a number of bands such as : The Vitaux project, the 'Σummation project of Apostolos Sideris , Iliodromio, Lappino Project and Ali Perret’s DU.DU in Istanbul. Also, he has collaborated with the bands: 'Psihi ke Soma (Body and Soul) Ensemble' fronted by Mattheos and Kostas Tsahouridis at the National Concert Hall in Athens, Loxandra ensemble and with a number of artists such as Alkinoos Ioannidis, Apostolos Rizos, Haig Yazdjian, Antonis Apergis, Nikos Paraoulakis, Marina Dakanali, Nadia Karagianni, Kostas Plousios and many more prominent musicians of the Greek music scene.
Andrea Romani - flute, ney
Based in Paris, born in Cremona, Italy (1975), Andrea is a self-taught musician who abandoned a promising career in an investment bank in Italy in the ‘90s when he first bought a is the flutist on the album Southern Avenue, directed by Fabrizio Cecca’s sextet in Paris, published by Chrystal Records. Shortly after, he started performing with the Italian guitar player Federico Casagrande, both in France and in Italy.
In 2014, while in Paris, he created “Alonisma”, a collective of international artists from Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America, including musicians, painters, filmmakers, dancers actors and academics.
After years of experiments, he recorded his first Album in December 2017 released by Z-Kalan, an important Turkish label.
Recently Andrea has been keeping busy with Jazz Maqom, a project funded by the French and German institutes and focusing on Central Asia, collaborating with local musicians in each place. He has also been an integral part of Apostolos Sideris' group, having performed with him both in Europe as well as in Turkey and the Middle East.