APOSTOLOS SIDERIS

Bassist, composer, vocalist

Apostolos Sideris was born in 1978 in Athens Greece where he received his initial musical training both on the flute and later on the bass. His interest in Jazz led him to the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston as well as to City College of New York where he received a master’s degree in Jazz Performance under the tutelage of the renowned bass master John Patitucci. He has since then, performed with a wide array of artists ranging from modern jazz to world music and beyond and after having spent considerable time in New York and Istanbul, he is currently calling Paris his home.

His wide-ranging musical experiences have been called upon in his latest project entitled ‘Past-Presented’(Parallel Records, France). The album which was released in November 2023 was received very positively by critics for the personal way in which it combines the various stylistic sides of the group’s leader to create a unique musical style. Eastern modal melodies coexist with the urgency of modern jazz and the syncopation found in traditions based in the African diaspora. 

Apostolos has had the pleasure to work with Jazz musicians such as guitarists Lionel Loueke and Rez Abbasi, pianist Leo Genovese(who is the pianist in his group), drummers Clarence Penn and Mokhtar Samba and saxophonist Seamus Blake among others. His work in the array of world music has been equally extensive and expansive, having worked with Lebanese composer Ziad Rahbani, with Palestinian Singer Sanaa Moussa, with oudist and composer Ara Dinkjian, Turkish modern folk ensemble MESEL, of which he was a co-founder, and Greek ECM artist Savina Yannatou. He has performed in various stages and festivals around the world such as the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, the festival of Arles, France, the Seoul Jazz Festival in Korea and the Istanbul Jazz Festival in Turkey.

The results of what he learned from his various collaborations as well as his eclectic influences can also be also traced in his two previous releases, ‘Summation’(FreshSound Records, Spain, 2019) and ‘Hane’(TMC Publishing, Greece, 2022). 

He has been based in Paris since the fall of 2023 and has been working on new collaborations, most recently with ‘Nomades’, a group featuring some of the leading voices in the French world-music scene, as well as with artists such as singer and instrumentalist Eleonore Fourniau, flutist and vocalist Naissam Jalal, world-jazz artist Lynn Adib. All the meanwhile he has been absorbing the cultural inspiration that Paris, his new environment, openhandedly has to offer.