SOFIA KOUTSOVITIS - radio vinilemania web-radio Latin - Jazz

SOFIA KOUTSOVITIS (VOCALIST)

Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sofia Koutsovitis is an active vocalist, composer and arranger. She is the leader of an octet that performs her own music, influenced by a wide variety of styles that range from jazz and experimental music to folkloric music from South America, specially Argentine, Brazilian and Peruvian.
After her professional singing debut at age 9 in the Teatro Colon Children’s Choir, Sofia later became a member of the internationally renowned National Youth Choir of Argentina, taking part of seven tours to South America, Europe and the USA. Subsequently attending the National Conservatory, she was part of several groups interpreting Renaissance, Baroque and Classical music in the most distinguished halls of Buenos Aires. Sofia also gained experience within the circles of experimental Avant-garde music. In 2001 she moved to Boston to pursue a Master's Degree in the Jazz Program at the New England Conservatory where she studied voice, improvisation and composition with jazz masters Danilo Perez, Dominique Eade, Charlie Banacos and Steve Lacy.
Now a resident of New York, Sofia is part of several projects that involve Jazz, experimental, Brazilian, Argentine, Afro-Peruvian and Afro-Colombian music. She is the lead vocalist of Alcatraz, a modern Afro-peruvian/jazz sextet. In AVANTRIO, Sofia joins Jorge Roeder in acoustic bass and Jorge Perez Albela in cajon in a distinctly contemporary take on traditional Creole and Afro-Peruvian music. She recently became a member of Folklore Urbano, a Colombian groove 12-piece band led by pianist/composer Pablo Mayor. And she is part of Aurea, new project led by pianist Geoffrey Keezer. Sofia is also collaborating with Spanish composer Montserrat Torras in a series of original pieces for solo voice and prerecorded vocal samples.
So far, Sofia Koutsovitis’ performances have found great critical success, including her appearances at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, Boston’s historic Jordan Hall, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and other top-tier jazz clubs like the Regattabar and Ryles. In 2004 she was invited to take part in the international ‘Betty Carter Jazz Ahead’ institute, a program designed to promote emerging jazz composers, and in 2005 her music was featured during a residency at the 2005 Aspen Jazz Academy, directed by Christian McBride.

SOFIA KOUTSOVITIS - OJALA (2005)

The music of Sofia Koutsovitis’ octet is grounded in South American rhythms which she unites with the harmonic and melodic innovations of jazz in a pan-stylistic tapestry of sound

Sofia Koutsovitis: vocals, arranger

Jason Palmer: trumper

Adam Schneit: alto saxophone, clarinet

Daniel Blake: tenor and soprano saxophone

Leo Genovese: piano

Jorge Roeder: bass

Richie Barshay: drums

Jorge Perez Albela: percussion

guests:

Jamey Haddad: percussion

Reynaldo de Jesus: percussion

Felipe Salles: soprano saxophone