News & Updates

Alekos Vretos Quartet

Mediterranean Echoes

A new creative phase takes shape at Sierra Studios

Athens, November 2025

    Alekos Vretos has completed the recording of his new album, Mediterranean Echoes, at the legendary Sierra Studios in Athens, marking the beginning of a new creative phase in his artistic trajectory. Scheduled for release in Spring 2026, the album represents a conscious shift rather than a continuation—an intentional redefinition of sound, form, and artistic focus.

    At the heart of Mediterranean Echoes lies a defining artistic decision: a jazz quartet without percussion or drums. By removing the traditional rhythmic engine, rhythm emerges organically through melodic interaction, phrasing, and collective listening. Time unfolds naturally, allowing space, silence, and intention to shape the music. The result is a transparent, organic sound world rooted in dialogue rather than drive.

  The quartet brings together four musicians whose musical relationship has been forged through long-term collaboration. Vretos leads on oud, navigating between traditional modal language and contemporary improvisation with clarity and restraint. Giannis Diskos’ clarinet introduces a distinctly Mediterranean voice—lyrical, earthy, and fluid—while Dimitris Verdinoglou’s piano provides impressionistic harmonic depth and subtle rhythmic suggestion. On upright bass, Kimon Karoutzos anchors the ensemble with resonance and narrative continuity, shaping form in the absence of percussion.

    A central moment of the album is a newly arranged piece featuring the Quintarco String Quintet. Rather than functioning as an external addition, the strings integrate seamlessly into the quartet’s sound world, expanding the color palette while preserving the project’s intimate, Mediterranean character.

     The repertoire of Mediterranean Echoes emphasizes collective authorship. Original compositions by all four members form the backbone of the album, reinforcing the ensemble’s shared artistic vision. These coexist with carefully considered interpretations of works by Ara Dinkjian, Simon Shaheen, and Anouar Brahem—figures whose influence continues to shape contemporary Mediterranean music. The dialogue between original material and reinterpretation reflects continuity rather than nostalgia.

   Live performance remains a crucial element of this new phase. The quartet’s music has evolved through sustained interaction with audiences, allowing space and responsiveness to guide form and development. That same philosophy informed the recording process at Sierra Studios, resulting in a sound that is direct, unforced, and deeply connected to the moment of its creation.

   With Mediterranean Echoes, Alekos Vretos opens a new chapter in his work—one defined by clarity over density, collective listening over hierarchy, and artistic intention over repetition. The album reflects a mature artistic stance shaped by decades of performance, cross-cultural collaboration, and a sustained effort to articulate a contemporary Mediterranean jazz language.

    Recording is now complete, mixing is underway, and the official release is scheduled for Spring 2026.

Related:

• Explore upcoming live performances on the Concerts  page

• Discover more about Alekos Vretos’ artistic background on the About page

• For press material and media information, visit Press

  A powerful new album that blends contemporary jazz with Mediterranean sensibility, offering both an artistic and deeply human statement. Rooted in personal storytelling while openly engaging with the social and political realities of the region, Mediterranée reflects on themes of migration, coexistence, resilience, and the shared fate of Mediterranean cultures.

  The upcoming album unfolds through rich textures and carefully shaped dynamics, allowing Mousadi’s expressive voice to move freely between intimacy and intensity. The ensemble brings together musicians of strong artistic identity: Natassa Mousadi on voice, Alekos Vretos on oud, Yiannis Papadopoulos on piano, Kostas Patsiotis on bass, and Nikos Sidirokastritis on drums. Together, they form a sound world where jazz improvisation meets Mediterranean lyricism and contemporary rhythmic drive.

  In her public statements, Mousadi has described Mediterranée as a response to a time marked by division and displacement. The album approaches the Mediterranean not as a border, but as a shared space of memory, movement, and cultural exchange. Through music, Mousadi invites reflection on empathy, solidarity, and the responsibility of artists to engage with the world around them.

 Mediterranée is not only a musical release, but a call for dialogue — between peoples, histories, and musical traditions. With its cinematic orchestrations and emotionally charged performances, the album stands as a compelling example of how jazz can remain both socially conscious and artistically daring.

  More information about the release date, previews and upcoming performances will be announced soon.

Greek vocalist, composer and bandleader Natassa Mousadi presents Mediterranée.

  Athens, Greece — In a recent interview, Greek oud virtuoso, composer and bandleader Alekos Vretos reflects on the artistic philosophy behind Mediterranean Echoes, a project that lies at the heart of his current creative journey. Speaking ahead of his live appearance at Theatre of the NO, Vretos emphasizes that his music is never about demonstration, but communication: “I don’t play in order to impress — I play in order to say something.”

 Mediterranean Echoes represents a deliberate rethinking of jazz through a Mediterranean perspective. Drawing from Eastern modal traditions, Greek melodic sensibility and contemporary jazz language, Vretos explores a sound world where storytelling takes precedence over form. The music unfolds slowly, allowing space, silence and interaction to shape the narrative — an approach that mirrors his belief that meaning lies not only in sound, but in intention.

  The quartet features Alekos Vretos (oud), Giannis Diskos (clarinet), Dimitris Verdinoglou (piano) and Kimon Karoutzos (upright bass), musicians bound by a deep sense of collective listening. Notably absent are percussion and drums; rhythm emerges organically through melodic interplay and shared musical breath. This choice reflects Vretos’s commitment to interaction over hierarchy, and to music that evolves from within the ensemble rather than being externally driven.

  In the interview, Vretos speaks of the Mediterranean as a living, shared space rather than a dividing line — a place where cultures meet, influence and transform one another. Mediterranean Echoes becomes, therefore, both an artistic and philosophical statement: a reminder that music can still function as dialogue, memory and human connection.

  The project will be released as an album in Spring 2026, with live performances continuing to shape its evolving form.

Alekos Vretos on “Mediterranean Echoes”: Music as Meaning, Not Display