Tracks: 1. Going Home 2. The Coast 3. Lockdown London 4. Coming Home to You 5. Memories of Home 6. Get Off My Lawn 7. From Something To Somewhere 8. Mikey’s Samba
Performers: Vasilis Xenopoulos – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute; Paul Edis – piano; Adam King – double bass; Joel Barford – drums.
Record label: Ubuntu Music. Recorded at Sansom Studios, Birmingham, on February 13, 2023. Release date: April 19, 2024.
Greek saxophonist Vasilis Xenopoulos is one of the most prominent jazz musicians of his generation and a true representative of pure jazz. London became his permanent home after graduating with honors from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and over time he established himself as one of the most promising jazz saxophonists in the British capital. He has worked with some of the best musicians on the international jazz scene as a bandleader, section leader, and featured soloist in a variety of projects.
In 2009 he formed The Xtet, and in 2011 released his debut album Loud City, featuring eight original compositions. Two years later, he released his second album, The Wind Machine. In 2017, Nigel Price and Xenopoulos created XPQ (Xenopoulos/Price Quartet) and recorded their first album under that name, Sidekicks, which celebrates some of the most successful guitar-and-saxophone pairings in jazz history. Their album Dexterity was released in September 2019. Vasilis’s latest project is with one of the UK’s leading contemporary bop groups, Five-Way Split, where he serves as co-leader and composer.
Their latest album, All the Way, was released in March 2023 on Ubuntu Music.
In addition, he maintains ongoing collaborations with artists from Greece and Cyprus, performing regularly as a bandleader or guest artist.
Paul Edis is one of the UK’s most creative musicians today. As a performer, composer, and educator, he has earned a reputation for consistently offering new and original ideas—always seeking innovation in his work while respecting the traditions of jazz and classical music. Regardless of genre or musical context, Paul is passionate about melody and expression. He has released several critically acclaimed recordings of new music in recent years, receives regular commissions from a wide range of organizations, and is known for his communication skills and broad knowledge. He works as an educator for institutions such as Sage Gateshead, the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, and the National Youth Jazz Collective.
In addition to leading his own sextet, trio, and solo performances, Paul regularly collaborates with vocalist Jo Harrop. Their album When Winter Turns To Spring won Best Album at the 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. He has also performed alongside other notable jazz figures including Jon Faddis, Alan Barnes, Bruce Adams, Nigel Price, Jim Mullen, Tim Garland, Julian Siegel, Tony Kofi, Steve Waterman, Iain Ballamy, and Mark Nightingale.
Xenopoulos and Edis began playing together in 2005, when both moved to West London to study. Their debut album, A Narrow Escape (2017), featured classic tunes from the Great American Songbook along with original compositions. They have just released Feels Like Home with drummer Joel Barford (Nigel Price, Trish Clowes) and bassist Adam King (Jo Harrop, Dave O’Higgins). The duo describes the music on this album as rooted in the jazz tradition, eclectic, groove-based, and fundamentally melodic. Including elements of hard bop, Latin jazz, gospel, and even folk, there are nods to Dexter Gordon, Stanley Turrentine, John Coltrane, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bill Evans, Brad Mehldau, McCoy Tyner, and more. This is honest, heartfelt music, inspired and unified around the central theme of home.
The opening track, Going Home, is based on Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World, arranged in the style of Stanley Turrentine’s version from his album Hustlin’ (Blue Note, 1964). Paul Edis contributes new arrangements. Xenopoulos’s tenor saxophone has a warm tone, Edis plays with restraint, and King and Barford provide a vital swing foundation. Edis contributes five tracks, including the relaxed, Latin-flavored The Coast. He also wrote Lockdown London, where Xenopoulos’s soprano sax and the rest of the group capture the spirit of 1960s Coltrane. Edis’s third piece, Coming Home To You, is a lovely, slightly bluesy ballad featuring a fine solo from King. Xenopoulos contributes two compositions: Memories of Home, a cheerful transitional ballad, and Get Off My Lawn, a hard bop tune tightly woven by all four musicians. The album closes with two more Edis pieces: the elegant, nocturnal From Something To Somewhere, with solos from Xenopoulos, Edis, and King, and the rhythmic Mikey’s Samba, featuring Xenopoulos on flute.
Feels Like Home is united by the central theme of home—the places the two colleagues have lived and the people they’ve met along the way. This is an album that is both engaging and entertaining.
La Habitación del Jazz