Costas Baltazanis

Costas Baltazanis is an accomplished Composer, Producer, Guitarist and Educator. He studied jazz guitar performance and composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

As a session player, Costas has contributed in more than 100 records and produced albums for various artists. He has performed in a number of countries including the USA, Greece, Spain, Finland, Israel, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Germany and had the pleasure to play next to great musicians and bands such as Alex Foster, The Mingus Orchestra, Arturo Sandoval, David Friedman, Jeff Tain Watts, James Genus, Omar Faruk Tekbilek and The Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra.

Costas is a founding member and principal composer of the World Fusion band Iasis , which was founded in 1995. The band has sold thousands of albums and performed in top venues and festivals in Greece, Spain, Germany and Luxemburg. Iasis discography includes the albums Iasis (1996), Amalgama (1999), as well as the Cd single Amalgama Mix (2000) under the label of Lyra Records and the album Duente (2003) under the label of Emarcy, Universal Records.

As a member of Alex Foster’s band he played and recorded Alex Foster’s “Condition” with Jeff Watts, Mike Wolff and James Genus.

In 2015 Costas Baltazanis recorded his latest personal album called “End of Seas” and he performed his music in top New York venues like the Blue Note and the Cutting Room.

As an educator he has been teaching for over 20 years. From 1995 to 2008 Costas Baltazanis was the Head Director of the Modern and Jazz Music Department at Philippos Nakas Conservatory in Athens, Greece. He planned, implemented and monitored the Berklee Study Abroad Program, supervised Institution’s Curriculum to adjust to Berklee’s International Network Program and served on Berklee College of Music Scholarship Committee in Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Spain, Finland and Israel.

Costas Baltazanis has written three Music Educational books, taught in universities and music schools throughout Greece.