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“Tender strings are touched by Bay Area guitarist George Cotsirilos, going solo with nylons on this gorgeous and intimate mix of standards and originals.”​
-JazzWeekly
“You start to wonder what stands out more: his impeccable touch, his graceful phrasing, or the way he puts the whole thing together. Honestly, it’s all three. …..a masterclass in touch and control.”
- Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Bay Area guitarist George Cotsirilos brings us a gorgeous set of mostly standards that he mines for melody in a solo exploration with his nylon-string guitar. He has been recording with larger ensembles but this time he trades that interplay for the deep intimacy that celebrates his ballad playing. Recommended.
Russell Perry, WTJU, University of Virginia
REFUGE, the latest CD of original compositions by the George Cotsirilos Quartet, was released in
May of 2022 to excellent reviews and has been named a Downbeat Editors’ Pick. Check out the
title track here, and more on the music page. Like its predecessor, Mostly In Blue, which
Downbeat named as one of the best CD’s of 2018, Refuge appears on the Downbeat list of the best albums of 2022, and it features Keith Saunders on piano, Robb Fisher on bass, and Ron Marabuto on drums.
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Check out the title track here:
Editor's Pick, Downbeat
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The compositions on Refuge are deceiving in their complexity, employing unexpected intervals within their undeniably catchy melodic lines and surging with rhythmic tension and release. As with just about everything he touches, Cotsirilos ties it all together with ingenious voice-leading solutions at every turn in this brave-and-brainy collective quest for refuge, written and recorded during the personal isolation and worldwide turmoil of the pandemic era.
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— Ed Enright, Downbeat
​"One of today’s finest jazz guitarists and composers, Cotsirilos has an unerring sense of swing and melody. His solos, while displaying accuracy and technique, are filled with soul."
-John Heidt
Vintage Guitar Magazine
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Four Stars, Downbeat"Performing originals with bluesy connotations and occasional Brazilian inflections alongside the standard “I Wish I Knew” and Charlie Parker’s “Crazeology,” the band achieves a like-live, late night ambiance. Cotsirilos favors a warm, pearly tone and long, flowing phrases, which dip into his lowest reaches. Saunders adds lightly percussive chordal accompaniment and takes graceful solos that expand the melodic material......he may feint toward funk, but like Cotsirilos, stays on the sophisticated side of that territory.......personal and a pleasure."​
- Howard Mandel, Downbeat
All CDs are available for purchase at: amazon.com and at originarts.com.
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