My personal striving for more freedom regarding melodic and rhythmic aspects in improvisation and less emphasis on functional harmony, led me to the exploration of modal jazz.
At the first cycle of my research, I studied two legendary trumpet players Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard in order to learn different techniques of developing a modal jazz solo.
Through this journey, I discovered a strong connection to my Greek roots. Greek music is modal and thus the idea of combining the two worlds seemed obvious.
For the second cycle of my research, I studied the French-Lebanese trumpet player Ibrahim Maalouf. Maalouf combines his Arabic roots with modal jazz and therefore he was a great source of inspiration to me.
By arranging Greek folk songs with jazz elements and adding modal jazz improvisation to my Greek folkloric sound, I found an interesting way to combine my roots with jazz music.
During my research I received valuable feedback from my research coach Dr. Dick de Graaf, my main subject teachers Bart de Win, Francien van Tuinen, Harjo Pasveer as well as from important experts Jarmo Hoogendijk, Tineke Postma, Mark van Roon, Stefan Lievestro and Eren Aksahin.