Photo: Mariza
Kapsabeli
Dimitris Tsakas studied under scholarship at Berklee College of Music with masters such as Andy Mc Gee, Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone and Steve Wilson.He has taken part in a lot of record productions and live performances by many Greek and foreign artists in venues such as the closing ceremony for the Olympic Games in 2004, as well as some of the top musicians in the Greek jazz scene.
Dimitris has established himself as one of the most prolific saxophonists in the Greek music scene over the past two decades, having been featured in over 200 albums spanning various genres.
During the same period he has been a long term collaborator with some of the most established artists in Greece such as Eleftheria Arvanitaki ,Charis Alexiou , Demis Roussos and Maria Farantouri.
He is well known for working with academy award winner, composer Vangelis Papathanasiou .
He is featured as a soloist on his “Blade Runner Trilogy 25th Anniversary”album as well as The Stephen Hawking tribute ,which goes under the professor’s Stephen Hawking synthesised voice.
The music with Hawking’s message was beamed into space by ESA
His jazz band has taken part in concerts and festivals in Greece and abroad.
He wrote music for the Athens Epidaurus festival which is featured in a series of theatrical plays around the country
As an educator he teaches Saxophone and Jazz Harmony and he also also gives music clinics and workshops all over Greece
He presented Duke Pearson’s masterpiece “Cristo Redentor” in collaboration with the ERT National Symphonic Orchestra and Choir at the 2016 New Year’s Day concert.
Also he presented with great success for the first time in Greece, the legendary piece “Charlie Parker with strings” performing as a soloist with the ERT Contemporary Music Orchestra. This project recorded for the Greek national radio and the European Broadcasting Union
Dimitris released three personal albums “Growing Up” which was recorded in New York , “A Man Dreams’, under Minos EMI-Universal and “Back Of Beyond”
He Presented his last album at the 2021 Athens Technopolis Jazz Festival as the main event
For the first time in Greece he played as a soloist saxophone player the Legendary
“Dark Side Of The Moon” in a symphonic version with the national Radio Symphonic orchestra at Stavros Niarchos main stage
As an educator he teaches Saxophone and Jazz Harmony and he also also gives music clinics and workshops all over Greece
Dimitris is the cultural director for a series of jazz events “Jazz at the Museum” at the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in Athens Greece
Since 2022 He is curating the biggest Jazz festival in Greece under the name “Jazz at the Plateia at the Athens Epidaurus Festival
Dimitris has a beautiful sound on alto, a smooth approach and a lot of lyricicm .
David Liebman
“We are all aware that there is no shortage of excellent saxophone players, but I do feel objectively that in the case of Mr Dimitris Tsakas, he possesses the rare little something which makes the big musical difference.”
Vangelis Papathanasiou