Lunchtime Jazz | Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis

Friday 25th April 2025 | 1pm

Vasilis Xenopoulos (Saxophone) and Paul Edis (Piano).

Paul Edis

Pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, educator (Early Bird Band, Jambone, National Youth Jazz Collective, National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Sage Gateshead’s degree programme), concert promoter, festival director, it was here in the Loftus Room where Paul Edis established the lunchtime jazz concert series. Paul has worked with a dizzying array of musicians including Greg Abate, Bruce Adams, Alan Barnes, Paul Booth, Jon Faddis, Alex Garnett, Freddie Gavita, Jo Harrop, Zoë Gilby, Tony Kofi, Jim Mullen, Nigel Price and Emma Rawicz. In 2023 Paul and Jo Harrop won ‘Best Album’ for When Winter Turns to Spring (All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group), subsequently touring coast to coast in America.

Paul has released several albums including Mr Hipster (Paul Edis Sextet), Ushaw Ensemble Volume 1 and A Narrow Escape and Feels Like Home (recordings with saxophonist Vasilis Xenopoulos).

Vasilis Xenopoulos

A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, saxophonist Vasilis Xenopoulos is an established figure on the London jazz scene. In demand across the spectrum, Vasilis works in numerous settings, from small group to big band, appearing at prestigious venues including Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express, Soho and the Spice of Life. Touring widely (UK and Europe) as a guest soloist or performing alongside household names (Brandon Allen, Alex Clarke, Paul Edis, Nigel Price), Vasilis has released several albums: Loud City (2011), The Wind Machine (2013), Sidekicks (2017, in collaboration with guitarist Nigel Price), Dexterity (2019, a homage to Dexter Gordon) and with his friend of twenty years, Paul Edis (A Narrow Escape, 2016 and most recently, Feels Like Home).

Paul and Vasilis last appeared at the Lit and Phil in 2017. This 2025 duo concert is likely to be a ‘hot ticket’. Book now!

A LIVE Lit & Phil Event | £8

(If you would prefer to book directly over the phone, please call the Library Desk team on 0191 232 0192 and they will be happy to help)

Host or Publisher The Lit and Phil