George Spanos, from Athens, Greece, is a drummer/composer based in New York City.
Born on 10 May 1979 and lives in Athens.He started playing music at the age of 8, first taking piano lessons and few years later horn as well.At the age of 14 he was finally drawn to the drums where he began serious studies on both modern drums and classical percussion. Through this long-term process he was blessed to have been guided by well respected musicians such as Xaralambos Taliadouros,Xristos Liatsos,Fotis Giannopoulos,Dimitris Desyllas,Maxim Mankofski,Sylvios Syrros,Ron Savage,Brice Wassy(legendary drummer of manu di bango and salif keita) ,private lesson and clinic with antonio sanchez,also has attended seminars of Gary Burton,Christos Rafailides,Thomas Lang. He has been playing with many artists,different styles,in jazz bands,in symphony orchestras ,on various projects and so on.collaborations include performances with the Symphony Orchestra of Iasi(Grand prix Maria Callas) with italian contructor Giovanni Froio (2001). Athens Youth Symphony Orchestra(2006) Dionisis Savvopoulos Axarneis live performance at Ancient Agora ,choreografy by Sofia Spiratou (2003), Athenaum Jazz Workshops(Sylvios Syrros class 2005-2006). 2nd Tinos jazz festival (2010) During 2008 he became a member of the bluesman-performer Zorz Pilali band,(2009)Eleni Dimou and producer Akis Golfidis,Yiannis Yiokarinis,also has been member in Tsourelis Stefanos fusion trio,Calu-Cacu latin/funk group and has participated on the recording ‘The happy Princess”on music by Nikos Xanthoulis for a book of Oscar Wilde,narration by actress Anna Synodinou . Kleon Antoniou,George Palamiotis,GiorgosMakris(gaidaman)AndreasThermos,Yiannis Kassetas,Nikos Xatzopoulos,Vangelis Paraskevaidis,Dianna Deligiani,Dimitris Dimopoulos ,Theodore Skouteris and many more. Since spring of 2008 he has been working on a new project called “Paradoxonia”,a 4 member band which tries to create an original sound ,using instruments like gaida,kaval,vibraphone,samplers,voice,bass and drums.
Spanos’ recent highlights include performances with John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Juini Booth, Lawrence Clark, Marc Ribot, On ka’a Davis, Sylvie Courvoisier, Erik Friendlander, Steve Swell, The Downtown Avengers and many other incredible artists. He has appeared in concerts and jazz festivals in Europe, United States and Canada.
His debut recording, Jungle of Illusions 2011 (with Yiannis Kassetas) received great critical acclaims among the critics in Europe and the United States alike.