Yiannis Kassetas

Biography

Yiannis Kassetas is considered to be one of Greece’s most accomplished saxophone players and composers.His personal and provocative style of composing has led him to collaborate with jazz giants from Greece and all over the world,such as George Kontrafouris ,Dimitris Vassilakis,Clarence Penn,Miles Griffith,and others. Actually his second cd’s (FunkAbyss”) liner notes where written by Award Winning composer Jason Yarde,who also along with Clarence Penn,performed in the CD.
Critics have been enthousiastic with Kassetas’s works calling him:”the new star of the Greek Saxophone”,or “Best cd of the Year 2009″ [HXOS magazine].Yiannis also won the competition for the European Jazz Festival 2009 where he was chosen to perform with his group (at the time) The Funk Wizards. Also his composition “Dive Jazz” was chosen by New York singer Miles Griffith to be performed at the historical “Smoke” Jazz Club in NY every Sunday!
Kassetas has released 5 albums as a leader and 1 as co-leader with “Lucid Dream” (2023, Puzzlemusik) being the most recent of them. His forthcoming album “Far” is due for release February 21, 2025.