CHRISTOS RAPHAELIDES - I can’t imagine myself being anything other than a Greek

Born in Kozani, Christos Raphaelides lives and works as a vibraphonist in New York. Soon after finishing his MA, he started his career in jazz music and celebrated his first personal milestone in 2002 starting up the jazz band Manhattan Vibes. Sometime later, Jazz Times magazine mentioned that the band’s debut album is one of the year’s ten best jazz recordings.

At the age of 7, young Christos started receiving piano lessons along with his lessons on classical percussion instruments. After graduating from high school, he relocated to Thessaloniki to study music. “I was shocked when I first heard African Americans play jazz at Mylos in Thessaloniki. I said, dudes, that’s my thing!”, Christos recalls in an interview with ellines.com.

Right up to his twenties he had been working for some of the most prestigious orchestras in Greece. A Berklee College of Music scholarship led him to Boston, where he finished his academic education studying with Ed Saindon. Next stop for Raphaelides was the city of New York, where he continued his studies next to the famous vibraphonist Joe Locke in Manhattan School of Music.

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