Top-notch vibraphonist and composer Christos Rafalides grew up in Kozani, moved to Boston to study and found his inner voice in New York, where he first left his mark as a member of the Manhattan Vibes quarter. His latest album titled Home is scheduled to be released on June 23rd, a project made up of seven original compositions, tailor-made to each separate musician that has contributed. The title of the album came up after the fact that all musicians recorded their respective parts from home, due to the pandemic restrictions. Home teams up musicians from different cultures, nationalities and backgrounds, featuring a multifaceted and pluralistic lineup: Antonio Sánchez (Mexico), Thana Alexa (Croatia), Mauricio Zottarelli (Brazil), Giovanni Mirabassi (France/Italy), Brad Mason (England), Victor Provost (Virgin Islands), Mike Pope (USA), Petros Klampanis and Thomas Konstantinou (Greece).

Christos Rafalides moved to Boston at a really young age, having earned a scholarship for the prestigious Berklee College of Music. “It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t that hard, either. It may sound like I’m evading, but that’s the truth. It goes without saying that making a new start in a foreign place, into the unknown, especially in the pre-Internet times, was no piece of cake. At the same time though, it was exciting as everything was new and fresh! I had the chance to meet new people with whom we shared the same passion, to learn, to put myself through the test and get better and better,” he explains. In the field of arts and culture, there’s always room for people with drive and talent, and I feel happy to be the one welcoming the younger ones who come to New York to take their shot!”.

Over the past years he has teamed up with distinguished musicians from different cultures, nationalities and backgrounds. This act of getting together and coming closer is still valuable
to him, after all these years. “This is one of the main reasons for choosing to live away from my homeland for the past thirty years. At first it was for academic purposes, as I aimed to gain a fully-rounded music education. However, as time went by, this mingling with people from different cultures and nationalities added new dimensions to my identity as an artist.”

Throughout his career, starting from the Manhattan Vibes quartet and the collaboration with his mentor, Joe Locke, all the way to the Trio he founded and the partnerships with acclaimed Greek and international musicians, he admits that a joint mindset between all involved parties plays a pivotal role. “Compatibility in terms of aesthetic and vision means the world in this genre of music. Jazz goes way beyond the composer’s partiture, as we have the room (and the privilege) of improvisation, which allows us to develop our proper thoughts on each piece. You can only imagine how unpaired an improvisational solo would sound if not governed by the same mindset as the rest of the musicians,” he goes on to say.

Matched by a group of top-notch jazz and classical music performers, Greek-Canadian composer Christos Chatzis, Petros Klampanis and Antonis Sousamoglou, he became involved in the music experiment bearing the name of Sonic Convergence, providing “music answers to the blazing questions of our rimes” with vibrance, contemplation and humor. In his book, experimentation is “a necessary element of progress that tinges things with a touch of risk, as it dares to move and think outside-the-box. Sonic Convergence was a thrilling experiment, as it posed a one-of-a-kind challenge: to form a joint vision, despite coming from different fields, and create something new, fresh and exciting. I feel that we planted a seed for this music quest to grow, while challenging all traditional forms and aspects of the music status quo.”

Christos Rafalides makes no distinction between the Greek and the international audience, rebuffing my own doubts as to whether a devoted jazz audience does indeed exist in Greece. “Nowadays everyone has access to jazz thanks to the Internet. People can now learn how to appreciate and comprehend jazz music, but also delve into it if they feel like doing so.” Even though ranked among the top-25 vibraphonists in the world, Christos Rafalides remains down to earth, a quality valued by everyone around him. “Music is no sport, where you have to be a winner or a contender for the top. The distinction you mentioned obviously means a lot to me, as it is the outcome of hard work and persistence. However, it is equally important to remain connected to my origins. You can easily get carried away with music, isolate yourself and start to float aimlessly.”