“My Favorite Things”
Kostas Magginas (guitar) & Philippos Kostavelis (keyboard)
Guitarist Kostas Magginas has chosen a few of his favorite songs, Broadway pieces and traditional American songs, compositions by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and many more. Alongside Filippos Kostavelis, on the keyboard, they explore them, they talk with them and they try to creatively transform them into a music free from stylistic contracts, sensitive, personal and forward.
Kostas Magginas (guitar)
Born in Athens. He studied guitar at the National Conservatory of Athens and also at the Conservatory of Northern Greece. He continued his studies with a scholarship in Berkeley College of Music in Boston. From 1988 to 1990 he was a member of Brandeis University Jazz Band under the direction of Ricky Ford. He has performed alongside famous jazz musicians such as Milt Hinton, Ran Blake, Kenny Burrell, Houston Pearson, Charles Davis but also with his own bands in various jazz clubs in Boston.
In 1991 he returned to Greece, where he recorded many of his own compositions for the station of ERA, he appeared in jazz festivals, in the Musical Megaron of Athens, in the "Mediterranean Crossroads", in various concerts with the organization of the Cultural Capital of Thessaloniki and elsewhere.
He has collaborated and performed live with various dance groups and has also composed music for the theatre and documentaries for the Greek television. He has toured in Greece and abroad with his own groups and musicians such as Lee Konitz, Dick Griffin, Mark Turner, Trilok Gurtu, Rick Margitza, David Schnitter, Graig Bailey, Sam Newsome, Rob Dixon, Roberto Gatto, Rosario Guliani, Marc Abrams, Alex Foster, Danilo Rea, Larry Vuckovic, Stjepko Gut, Keith Copeland, Jacubu Griffin, Benjamin Henocq, Olivier Gatto, Milcho Leviev, Nicholas Simion and many more. He has recorded three personal CDs:
"DIALOGUES" (Ano Kato records rei 2017) | "SEVEN FOR A SECRET" (Ano Kato records rei 2022) |"THE CALL" (Ano Kato records rei 2038, Cue 001).
Philippos Kostavelis (keyboard)
Filippos Kostavelis started studying piano at the age of seven years old. He studied classical piano and theory in Thessaloniki and he continued his studies in the 'Hanns Eisler' Academy in Berlin. During that time he starts his occupation with jazz and improvisational music. He has participated with various music groups in festivals in Greece and abroad and furthermore he has participated in dozens recordings and has also composed music for children plays and modern dancing performances.