Vasilis Xenopoulos - International Sax Star!

A towering force on the contemporary UK scene, Berklee honours graduate Vasilis Xenopoulos is a tenor titan who wears his straight-ahead convictions firmly on his sleeve.

Eschewing more modish, avant-garde abstractions, the Athens-born, London-based saxophonist channels the full-blooded warmth, blues-drenched authority, and hard-swinging bop dynamism of icons like Dexter Gordon, Hank Mobley, and Stanley Turrentine.

Whether tearing through blistering tempos with the Parliamentary Jazz Award-nominated powerhouse Five-Way Split, locking horns with guitarist Nigel Price in their irresistible XPQ project, or weaving deeply lyrical, unashamedly romantic narratives alongside pianist Paul Edis, Xenopoulos delivers a masterclass in classic jazz craftsmanship.

It is a sound rooted in profound respect for the tradition, executed with a fiery, charismatic energy that keeps the listener completely hooked.