Magnanimus Trio was formed back in 2010 in Thessaloniki, Greece. In their first album A Cue (2010) the band’s members, piano & ney player Christos Barbas, drummer & pianist Dimitris Tasoudis, bassist Pavlos Spyropoulos provide “a cue” of their existence, recording live a wholly-improvised hour of music balancing between contemporary minimalistic sound and melodic soundscapes diligently formed. In their second album Still Time (2012) they create a mixture of original compositions and improvisations that evoke cinematic auditions, introducing modal jazz elements, minute compositions & ballads for voice and kaval (wooden flute).

Their newest album No Time (2016 / AN Music) takes them a step further in defining their vision for the music of the trio: 13 original compositions where one will find, far away from chattering , precision and clarity in every note, the element of freedom from various different improvisational music worlds that connect south-european modality to mainstream music and two songs: one with lyrics borrowed from W. Shakespeare and one with original lyrics.

In No Time Magnanimus Trio carefully choose its sounds, blending seemingly different elements from minimalism, contemporary classical & jazz genres and sufi music, at times echoing the romantic narrations of Sigur Rós, E.S.T., Robert Wyatt, at others touching the monolithicity of Arvo Pärt, Stephan Micus or Steve Reich, and ultimately consolidating the sound of a inventive trio which resists easy categorization and based in the South of Europe refers to a universal sound.

The trio’s musicians collaborations include some of the best musicians in the field of world & jazz music: the late John Taylor, Erkan Oğur, Derya Turkan, Murat Aydemir, Ζohar Fresco Quartet, Ross Daly, Sokratis Sinopoulos, Zezo Olimpio and Efrén López amongst others.

Christos Barbas / piano, ney, kaval, vocals

Pavlos Spyropoulos / double bass

Dimitris Tasoudis / drums, piano, keys, marimba

The Visitor

Album Notes
Magnanimus Trio / Still Time 

“Only through time time is conquered.”
T.S. Elliot, Burnt Norton

Christos Barbas: piano, kaval, voice
Dimitris Tasoudis: drums, percussion, piano, voice
Pavlos Spyropoulos: contrabass, voice

Live recording at Cue Productions Studio 
Thessaloniki / Greece / April 2012
Recorded, mixed & mastered 
by Yannis Mavridis / www.cue.gr
Artwork by Eleni Lomvardou

Music by:
Magnanimus Trio (04, 07, 13)
Edvard Grieg / Magnanimus Trio (09)
Christos Barbas / Magnanimus Trio (01, 06, 08)
Dimitris Tasoudis (03, 05, 11)
Dimitris Tasoudis / Magnanimus Trio (10)

Magnanimus Trio is formed by three friends, Christos Barbas (piano, kaval, voice), Dimitris Tasoudis (drums, piano, voice) and Pavlos Spyropoulos (contrabass, voice) on September 2010. They met back in the 90s when they where co-students in the Music Studies Department in the Aristotle University of their city, Thessaloniki/Greece. Each of them has followed his own road, mixing musicalities and jobs both interesting and diverse. 

Christos has taught Ney and Ottoman music in universities around Greece, and teaches also abroad. / Apart from traditional woodwind player he is equally involved in composition for contemporary dance projects, theatrical plays and contemporary modal music groups.

Dimitris is teaching music in the secondary education and has been teaching at the Department of Film Studies in Aristotle University; he is busy as a drummer and a percussionist both in post-rock and alternative bands, as in contemporary and jazz music concerts.

Pavlos also is teaching music theory and contrabass in various music schools in Greece, and he is involved in many bands, ranging from flamenco, to traditional Eastern Μediterranean musics, Balkan music etc. 
After a period of completing their studies (Christos studied Ethnomusicology in London, and Dimitris Composition & Percussion in York) they met again in Thessaloniki. 

Creating Magnanimus Trio arose from the need to combine all these influences into a project, without having the need to name their music, but just to be committed in the sound the trio produced, free -as possible- from external "stylish" and music-market restrictions. Having said that it is important to add that a very important part in the process of their music making is improvisation, as a medium to connect all their musical ideas and influences in the point of the present. 

Modality (modal musics use the tool of the mode, as opposed to classical tonic music which uses functional harmony) is a strong asset in their music, as is the tendency to investigate the minute details sound, and the emergence of melodies through the act of careful listening. In their performances elements from modal jazz can be interweaved with contemporary, classical ideas, always giving space for improvisation and letting the instruments themselves to speak...

Magnanimus Trio

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