Waving Hands

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• 

  On Vinyl

  Greg

  • Root Genre: Jazz
  • Primary Branch: Contemporary Jazz / Third Stream
  • Secondary Influences: Classical / Art Music, Film Score, Chamber Jazz, Jazz-Funk
  • Textural Identity: Cinematic, melodic and richly arranged — acoustic piano at the center, expanded with vibraphone, Hammond organ, brass, flute, cello, violin and a warm acoustic rhythm section
  • Energy Axis: Low → Medium-High (moves between reflective, cinematic passages and brighter, groovier ensemble pieces)

  Waving Hands belongs most naturally under Jazz, but with a strong Third Stream identity: Lantsias combines jazz improvisation and ensemble writing with classical training and a pronounced cinematic sensibility. Greek public broadcaster ERT explicitly describes this classical-jazz synthesis as central to his work, while the Hellenic Jazz Society credits show an unusually broad palette around his piano: double bass and drums alongside trumpet, flugelhorn, saxophone, flute, trombone, cello and violin. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=“0”}

  The album was inspired by the birth of Lantsias’s twin daughters, and that gives it a noticeably brighter character than some contemporary chamber jazz. Lantsias himself describes the music as both cinematic and “feel-good,” ranging from the atmospheric “Anticipation” to the more danceable “The Little One.” Critics have likewise noted how freely it moves between jazz, classical references and cinematic composition without settling completely into any one idiom. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=“1”}

  Small review: Waving Hands is an unusually generous-sounding jazz record. Lantsias does not treat the expanded ensemble as a vehicle for complexity; instead, strings and brass are used to color very direct melodic ideas. The piano remains central, but rarely dominates the arrangements, and that gives the album more of an ensemble-composer feel than a conventional pianist-led session. At times it brushes against soundtrack music, at others against lightly funky contemporary jazz, but the melodic warmth holds everything together. It is polished and accessible without losing the sophistication of the writing. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=“2″}

  Collection shorthand: Jazz → Contemporary Jazz / Third Stream.