John Pachnos Introduces Himself with a Fully Formed Vision on “John Pachnos,” Arriving May 15 On Avgonyma Music
Bassist-Composer’s Debut Features Seven Smart, Fresh Originals in a Quintet with Guitarist Caleb Heinze, Saxophonist/Flutist Carter Vames, Pianist Frankie Midnight, Drummer Justin Vedovelli
RICHMOND, Calif., April 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just 25 years old, John Pachnos announces himself to the jazz world with a remarkably mature and bracingly individual artistic profile on his stunning debut John Pachnos, set for a May 15 release on his own Avgonyma Music label. A quintet album featuring saxophonist/flutist Carter Vames, guitarist Caleb Heinze, pianist Frankie Midnight, and drummer Justin Vedovelli, it also includes seven original compositions, collectively offering an immediately distinctive and compelling new voice.
Despite his youth, Pachnos’s development as a musician has been in the works for decades. He is a former child prodigy whose talents became manifest when he was three years old. His already-musical family lost no time, he recalls, in “having me take piano lessons and teaching me how to read music and introducing me to that whole world.” That world has been his own ever since. (He has even known, and played, with guitarist Heinze since they attended music camp together at 11 years old.)
That literal lifelong dedication is apparent in what we hear on tunes like the hard-boppish “Gettin’ Outta Dodge”: It’s bold and quirky, following its own direction, but also a masterful example of the classic 32-bar song form that gives ample room for all five musicians (himself included) to make their own thrilling statements. Meanwhile, “No Funks to Give” is slightly more eccentric in its form, but no less virtuosic in its transitions from hard funk to carefree swing and back again, and “Take It All Off!” walks the line between jazz improvisation and balls-to-the-wall rock swagger with astonishing precision.
Yet if Pachnos’s technical facility belies his young age, so does his emotional maturity. “Well Well Well” shows a fluency in advanced and ambiguous harmonies, but more pointedly, the bassist (and his companions, especially Vames) use those harmonies to render a nuanced, complex, and sometimes contradictory emotional landscape. On the other hand, “Floridian Winter” is more plainspoken in its fond nostalgia, as is “As Summer Turns to Fall” in its sweet introspection. Each thoughtfully channels sincere, earned emotion into a well-crafted delivery vessel.
The back story for the album’s lead track, “Avgonyma,” takes place in the medieval Greek town of the same name, birthplace of his great-grandparents. During a visit there with his father, he bought a bouzouki, and once home, he was eager to add the traditional stringed instrument to an already-recorded song. “I ended up overdubbing all of these bouzouki flourishes on the track,” he says.
Many of the kudos for Pachnos’s accomplishment on his first album are shared with his collaborators. Friends and fellow travelers from his days at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts—including Heinze, with whom Pachnos reconnected at the conservatory—the quintet plays with the empathy and chemistry of a cohort that’s spent years bouncing ideas and creative energy off each other. It reaps tremendous awards on John Pachnos.
Born March 15, 2001, in Newton, New Jersey, John Pachnos was welcomed by a music-loving family that he quickly became an active part of—quicker than anyone might have expected. Hearing his big sister’s piano practice session one day, three-year-old John toddled up behind her and repeated her playing verbatim. This led to his beginning piano lessons of his own; he also spent some time with the drum kit. Then, inspired by the classic rock his dad loved, he took up the bass, soon immersing himself in the trailblazing lines of Motown icon James Jamerson.
Pachnos embraced jazz in high school, between the Gordon Goodwin arrangements he worked on in band class and COTA’s CampJazz program at the Deer Head Inn, which he participated in during the summer of 2018. He took it with him to Rutgers University, where he studied with bass notable Kenny Davis. (Summer jazz intensives with Victor Wooten, at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, supplemented those studies and allowed him to delve deeper into the funkier side of jazz.)
After graduation came embarkation, as Pachnos found work on the cruise-ship circuit—an educational curriculum of its own, as he was required to practice every imaginable style of music behind performers from all over the world. Back on land, though, Pachnos was exploring similarly diverse avenues, working in rock bands and pit orchestras as well as jazz. It’s the latter, though, that is the inspiration behind his self-titled debut recording. •
Contact:
Terri Hinte
510-234-8781
hudba@sbcglobal.net
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Bassist/Composer John Pachnos Introduces Himself with a Fully Formed Vision on "John Pachnos," Arriving May 15 on Avgonyma Music
Debut album by 25-year-old jazz bassist/composer John Pachnos shows the New Jersey native's strong personal vision through wide-ranging original compositions and his heady interaction with musicians he has played with since college (or earlier).
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