Nicky Scopelitis

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Nicky Skopelitis (born February 2, 1949 ) is a Greek fusion guitarist from the environment of Bill Laswell , who played with him in the bands Curlew and Material as well as with Herbie Hancock , Afrika Bambaataa and Public Image Ltd. worked together.

biography

Nicky Skopelitis learned to play the trumpet as a child before turning his attention to the guitar and other stringed instruments such as the banjo and dobro . As a teenager he came into contact with the New York downtown music scene and met bassist and producer Bill Laswell in the late 1970s. The two played together in the avant-garde rock band Curlew, until Skopelitis also contributed to the material. On the 1982 album One Down he can be heard alongside Fred Frith and the young, still largely unknown Whitney Houston .

Material became known to a larger audience in 1983 through Herbie Hancock's album Future Shock (with the single Rock-it ), on which Skopelitis is represented as a background singer. In the course of the decade there was further work with Hancock, for example Skopelitis u. a. Guitar on Sound System (1984) and Fairlight on Perfect Machine (1988). A similar success was the 1984 single World Destruction , conceived by Laswell and Afrika Bambaataa with John Lydon , an early combination of rock music and rap , in which keyboardist Bernie Worrell was also involved. From the meeting with Lydon in 1986 the collaboration on the album by Public Image Ltd. In 1987 he worked alongside Laswell and Worrell on Rhythm Killers by Sly & Robbie and with Laswell he also supported James Blood Ulmer on his record America: Do You Remember The Love? . He continued to perform together with Laswell, Sonny Sharrock , Ginger Baker , Jan Kazda and Peter Brötzmann (CD No Material ).

In 1989 Nicky Skopelitis recorded his first solo album entitled Next To Nothing , which included Laswell, Baker and Frith as well as percussionist Aiyb Dieng and violinist Simon Shaheen.

In 1991 Skopelitis was instrumental in creating the Golden Palominos ' Drunk With Passion album and worked with Swans on White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity . Moreover appeared Faith Moves , a duo with guitarist Sonny Sharrock, produced the Laswell and Robert Palmer in Rolling Stone very positive discussed. After setting Hakim Bey's book Temporary Autonome Zone to music (with guitarist Buckethead, among others ), his album Ekstasis with Laswell, Jah Wobble and Jaki Liebezeit followed in 1993 , which the Down Beat awarded 4 stars.

Skopelitis then continued to participate in projects under Laswell's leadership, such as the Axiom sampler Funkcronomicon , Every Silver Lining Has A Cloud by Julian Schnabel (both 1995) and Unison by Shin Terai (1999). In 1998 the next solo album by Skopelitis called Revelator was released , a work tending towards the avant-garde lounge with guitarist Raoul Björkenheim , percussionist Bill Buchen and Laswell as producer. Another album by Ekstasis with a similar line-up to the debut was also released in 1998.

As a studio musician, Skopelitis was subsequently heard by Gigi von Laswell's later wife Ejigayehu Gigi Shibabaw (2001), With A Heartbeat by Pharoah Sanders and Graham Haynes (2003) and on the sitar on The Rasta Far I (2006) by Dub Syndicate and 2007 alongside Worrell on ARA by Dorian Cheah.

Discography

  • 1989: Next To Nothing (Venture Records)
  • 1991: Faith Moves ( CMP Records )
  • 1993: Ecstasis (Axiom)
  • 1998: Ekstasis - Wake Up And Dream (Cyber ​​Octave)
  • 1998: Revelator (Douglas Music / innerhythmic)

Participations (selection)

  • 1981: Curlew: Curlew
  • 1982: Material: One Down
  • 1983: Herbie Hancock: Future Shock
  • 1984: Herbie Hancock: Sound System
  • 1984: Time Zone: World Destruction (Single)
  • 1986: Public Image Limited: Album
  • 1986: Afrika Bambaataa: Beware (The Funk Is Everywhere)
  • 1987: Sly & Robbie: Rhythm Killers
  • 1987: James Blood Ulmer: America: Do You Remember The Love?
  • 1988: Herbie Hancock: Perfect Machine
  • 1988: Iggy Pop : Instinct
  • 1991: Swans: White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity
  • 1991: The Golden Palominos: Drunk With Passion
  • 1993: Material: Live In Japan
  • 1993: Divination: Ambient Dub Volume I
  • 1994: Hakim Bey: TAZ
  • 1994: Anton Fier: Blind Light
  • 1995: Axiom Funk: Funkcronomicon
  • 1995: Julian Schnabel: Every Silver Lining Has A Cloud
  • 1999: Shin Terai: Unison
  • 2001: Gigi: Gigi
  • 2002: The Meta Collection (compilation)
  • 2003: Pharoah Sanders & Graham Haynes: With A Heartbeat
  • 2005: Neighborhood Legends Vol. 1 (compilation)
  • 2007: Dorian Cheah: ARA

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.music-story.com
  2. ^ "The music is all made by Sharrock's Les Paul and Skopelitis's battery of guitars, basses and other Western and non-Western instruments, with up to ten overdubs per track. The versatile Scopelitis mostly provides multilayered settings for Sharrock's free-spirited leads. Some of the music leans east, some leans west. "
  3. ↑ Down Beat 10/1993, p. 42
personal data
SURNAME Scopelitis, Nicky
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Scopelitis, Nicky
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek fusion guitarist
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1949