Mniestris, Moustakas, Despotakis: “A Bolt From The Blue”
Memos Moustakas (piano), Yannis Despotakis (drums), and Andreas Mniestris (saxophone) come together at KET for a concert of free improvisation with roots in free jazz. The trio was formed in April 2024. Entitled A Bolt From The Blue, their first album captures the dynamism and energy of their live performances.
www.agamemnonmoustakas.bandcamp.com/album/a-bolt-from-the-blue
🔷 Pianist Agamemnon (Memos) Moustakas is active in free improvisation and on-the-spot composition, mainly in solo or small ensembles. He studied accordion and music theory at the National Conservatory and the N. Skalkotas Conservatory. He took courses in contemporary improvisation with Markos Alexiou. His first documented recording is Exit Strategies (2017), with Spyros Mitsoulis. In Tragelaphus (2020), he appears in a trio with Perseas Rizos and Stefanos Chytiris, while On a Ledge beyond the Edge (2023) and Sketches of Resistance (2025) are collaborations with Yannis Despotakis. He has released a total of 14 albums, including 5 for solo piano.
www.agamemnonmoustakas.bandcamp.com
🔷 Drummer and percussionist Yannis Despotakis studied tabla with Satnam Ghai and Nihat Yersaloglu, drums with Nikos Kapilidis, and electric guitar with Kostas Mouzis. He met Hayden Chisholm in 2007 and they have been working closely together since 2009. Since 2013, he has been collaborating with Døn Stavrinos in the band Meating for Business. Some of his recorded releases include the solo album The Silent Cry Of An Urban Orangutan (2021), Live at Studio 9 (2018) with Antonis Anissegos and Døn Stavrinos, and Invocations Transfigured (2023) with Agamemnon Moustakas and Dimitris Pantelis. In 2025, he also participates in Sketches of Resistance.
🔷 Andreas Mniestris is Professor Emeritus of Electronic Music Composition at the Department of Music Studies of the Ionian University. He has been performing as a saxophonist since the mid-1980s, focusing on free jazz and free improvisation, and has collaborated with many musicians of this genre, including: N. Touliatos / A. Symvoulopoulos (Telethroon), F. Floridis, T. Rellos, S. Yannatou, S. Papadimitriou, D. Dimitriadis / J. Tornabene (trio saxo viva!), and others. For the past two years, he has been collaborating with Memos Moustakas and Yannis Despotakis, as well as with the ensemble “Genitsaroi tou Chrimatoistikiou Systimatos” (F. Theocharidis, G. Stavridis).