About Stefanos Tsourelis Trio

World jazz trio project led by Greek born London based guitar and oud virtuoso Stefanos Tsourelis with Dave Jones - bass Eric Ford- drums

Jazz trio

London

Verified profile

BIO Stefanos was born in Larisa Greece and has been playing music from the age of 10. He took his first lessons on the greek Lute by Yiorgos Deligiannis, and later on studied Oud with Kyriakos Kalaitzides. At the age of 17 he started performing professionally as a Guitarist and Oud player in music venues, theatres and festivals across Greece. In 2005 he moved to London and studied at The London Guitar Institute/ Guitar X where he was awarded the ‘Best Guitarist of the Year’ in 2008. Stefanos is well known for his versatility and ability to move across styles and genres on both the Guitar and Oud. His musical style incorporates Blues, Rock, Jazz and Mediterranean sounds. His major influences has been Jim Hendrix, SRV, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, Jeff Beck and Wes Montgomery. Stefanos Tsourelis Trio is his main project at the moment. Using the oud and guitar as his vehicle, Stefanos imprints his experiences from Greece and London on his music, taking the audience on an authentic journey that uniquely fuses Mediterranean music with jazz. The collaboration with bass player Dave Jones and drummer Eric Ford allowed the project to creatively evolve to its final form. The trio presented its debut album “Native Speaker” in 2017 and since then it has been performing in the UK and abroad, at venues and festivals including the EFG London Jazz Festival, Ealing Jazz Festival, Teignmouth Jazz Festival, The Vortex Jazz Club, Black Mountain Jazz, the Bulls Head, Jazz Cafe POSK, and the Green Note. Currently Stefanos is ready to release his new album with the Trio in May 2020.

Stefanos Tsourelis Trio's Reviews

Some words from their review on live performance in London Jazz News from the gig at Bull’s Head Barnes Feb 11th 2017… simple chords suddenly awoken by incredibly fast runs in unison with the bass- one of the amazing variety of timbres in the trio ….. one of Tsourelis’ heroes is John McLaughlin (and his 80s/90s trios with Trilok Gurtu) and you could hear a strong influence. ….. Eric Ford’s sensitive cymbal work was complex, tiny beats scattered between the strokes of the cowbell, often following the rhythm of the melodies… the full drum sound allowed guitar and bass to play in unison without the sense of anything missing …. There were time signatures to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the gig, here 6/8, then 7/8 – Tsourelis studied Greek lute, and its rhythms, in Greece before being introduced to the oud by his teacher…. There was a wonderful sense of the trio grooving together very intuitively ….. The gorgeous chord melody head and Metheny-esque solo lulled us, the repeated phrases recurring like waves….. moody and minor, with fast, rising, almost flamenco riffs caught in the net of the spacey chords ….. Spancil Hill, an Irish tune, was the only one not written by Tsourelis, and the sweet melody nestled among oriental trills. Dave Jones’ solo was beautifully melodic as well as percussive …

Musicianship

Genres:

World music, Jazz, Jazz fusion, Blues

See all genres

Types:

Jazz trio, Acoustic band, Original artist, Jazz duo

See all types

Event types:

Bar / Club / Venue event, Wedding, Private event, Corporate event, Charity event, Concert, Recording session, Hotel / Restaurant event, Virtual event, Wedding proposal

See all event types