Mysterious Train by Christos El Papadopoulos Quintet

released December 26, 2018

This particular artistic work is a collection of several years. Lots of individual people without actually understanding it, became the reason for some of the melodies you will hear. I thank them all, even if they are very likely they will never read or hear this result or they may not even remember my presence. The album of Loukianos Kilaedonis ‘Media Luz’ as well as the ”Ydrargyroi”(Mercuries) prose, was the most important inspiration for the “music of a fantasy film never shot”, as he himself said.

Sometime, my musical journey brought me alongside Jim Politis, Elena Malamos and the “Ghost Notes”band .My luck was too great. We travelled and played together in Europe, in various likely and unlikely places, culminating in the Royal Albert Hall in London. I will never stop thanking them for the experiences they have given me. They were extremely instructive for my life in general. The “Mysterious train” was born through this fellowship. It was the “moto”(ataka) of our tours that had stuck to my mind .I dedicate the “A walk to Heidelberg” to them, for the most beautiful moments we spent there.

I can’t help but mention my longest music family so far, the «Speakeasies Swing Band». With Katerina, Manolis, thePanos, Giannis and Stergios, we have literally travelled almost all over the world and every moment was an inspiration for me. Many of the parts of the album are moments we shared together, like, for example, the “Morning in Venice».

The “Crime in Baghdad” is dedicated to the memory of a very great teacher and excellent clarinetist, Petko Radev, who was a model for how he handled the various musical genres and the instrument itself.

Finally, I want to thank very warmly the band of «Christos El. Papadopoulos quintet», who supported this whole process with great care and love and showed me in practice that they consider this album as their own child.