Giorgos Kontrafouris was born in Athens, Greece in 1967. He studied classical piano at the National Conservatoire in Athens. At the age of 16, he became interested in jazz music and studied improvisation under Markos Alexiou. He also studied Jim Beard and Jarmo Savolainen. He holds a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Jazz Performance from the Sibelius Academy in Finland.
He has performed as a piano or organ player with many famous and outstanding musicians such as: Mark Johnson, Arild Andersen, Marcus Stockhausen, Louisiana Red, Keith Copeland, Andy Sheppard, Ralph Peterson Jr., Bob Brozman, Carla Cook, Alvester Garnett, Stepko Gut, Olivier Gatto, David Liebman, Houston Pearson, Eric Alexander, David Sills, Lou Donaldson, Sam Newsome, Jamie Hadad, Deborah Davies, Benny Golson, Tim Hagans, Bob Shepard, Carmen Lundy, Sheila Jordan, Jukkis Uotila, Wade Mikkola, Takis Paterelis, Stratos Vougas, Dimos Dimitriadis, Lydia Fylipovic, T. Spasov, A. Pacatius.
He is a professor jazz of piano and organ at the Ionian University, as well as at the Athenaeum Conservatoire in Greece and at the Sibelius Academy in Finland. He has taught Master Classes in various schools in Greece, Ireland, Indonesia, and Estonia.

Description

Jason Wastor was born in Athens in 1996 and was raised into a musical family. He started playing the drums at the age of 12 and after a few years he started studying with Spyros Panagiotopoulos.

In 2015, he received a scholarship to study at the S.U.N.Y. Purchase College (New York) and had the opportunity to have some legendary musicians of jazz as teachers: John Riley, Carl Allen, Kenny Washington, Joe Farnsworth and Matt Wilson.  In 2017, he was awarded the legendary sax player James Moody Scholarship and continued his studies through the Gamechanger project (Wetchester, NY) while at the same time he was teaching young students in NYC.

He has appeared in concerts and theatrical performances at both New York and Athens, where he currently lives and he is very active at the Greek jazz scene.

Jason Wastor is also a member of the new George Kontrafouris piano trio.

The Athens-born bassist Kimon Karoutzos, started studying with Tasos Kazaglis. Then he graduated the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in Holland. In 2018 he moved to New York for post-graduate studies at Manhattan School of Music, with the legendary bass player Ron Carter, as well as with the double bassist of New York Metropolitan Opera Jeremy McCoy.
He has performed at acclaimed and historic NYC venues (Dizzyʼs Jazz Club Mt Lincoln Center, Birdland, Mezzrow, Mintonʼs) and at some of Europe’s most impotant festivals (Umbria Jazz, North Sea Jazz Festival, Getxo Jazz Festival). He has also collaborated with some famous jazz musicians, such as Wycliffe Gordon, Dick Oatts, Arturo oʼFarrill, Gregory Hutchinson, John Clayton, as well as with the composer Joshua Rosenblum and the screenwriter William Electric Black.
In Greece, among others, he is a member of the George Kontrafouris trio.