George Kassis
Pianist George Kassis was born on March 23rd 1987 in Beirut. He was first introduced to music at the age of four attracted to the percussion then got introduced to piano at 14 .
Lebanese Bass player Elie Afif, a friend at school, got George few albums by Bud Powell and Bill Evans . That was George’s first encounter with jazz music. And since then Kassis decided to dedicate his time to this music. First he studied piano with Nawal Shagoury at Kaslik University (USEK) where he is finishing his diploma in Piano studies.
George started playing in pubs since 2005. He formed many local bands and played with many local musicians. He travelled to perform with many Lebanese artists in Germany, UAE, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey and many other countries. George also participated in many recordings with well known Lebanese artists. He improved his skills by taking lessons with Barry Harris in Italy in 2010.
Since the opening of MOJO Club in Beirut George supported the club and performed many gigs as a leader of his band and accompanying international artists such as: Victor Bailey, Gino Sitson, Frank Gambale, T.K.Blue ,Ricky Ford, Elizabeth Lohninger and many others. Although it should be mentioned that performing with Gambale is considered by George the highlight of his experience with International artists. George plays a variety of styles from Jazz standards, funk and fusion and is working on recording his first album as a leader.
