FROM FOOTPRINTS TO MILESTONES

The four musicians met during their studies at the Jazzart school. Through a year of intensive exploration and engagement with the more contemporary currents of jazz—as shaped by artists such as Miles Davis with his second quintet, Wayne Shorter, Sam Rivers, Paul Bley, Karin Krog, among others—the idea of forming the quartet was born.

The ensemble serves as a creative ground for experimentation, where improvisational, compositional, and orchestrational ideas are explored. The music of the quartet consciously departs from conventional notions of expressiveness—whether soloistic, harmonic, or orchestrational—opening space for the emergence of more abstract and free forms of musical expression.

Performers:

Sofia Braila — vocals 

Gabriele Milozzi — alto and soprano saxophone

Sotiris Choutos — guitar 

Arionas Gyftakis — double bass

Sofia Braila was born in Athens. She began studying music at a young age, starting with classical piano lessons. She later enrolled at the Musical Praxis Conservatory, where she studied vocals and participated in the conservatory’s jazz ensembles. Since 2020, she has been studying jazz improvisation with Sylvios Syrros and is currently attending the Jazzart Music School. She has collaborated with various musicians and performed at festivals and concert venues across Greece. In addition to her musical pursuits, she holds a degree in Graphic Design from the University of West Attica and works as a freelance designer.

Gabriele Milozzi started playing the saxophone at the age of 11. He graduated from the Conservatory “G. Rossini” of Pesaro (Italy). In 2011, he was awarded a scholarship to Berklee College of Music. In Boston, he studies with artists such as George Garzone, Hal Crook, Bob Gullotti, John Lockwood, Jason Palmer and many others. He graduates summa cum laude with a major in Performance and a minor in Jazz Theory. He later moves to Athens, where he completes his studies under the guidance of Silvios Syrros. He collaborated with Arionas Gyftakis, Spyros Manesis, Anastasis Gouliaris and played in many venues in Greece, Italy and the USA.

Born in Athens in 1986, Sotiris Choutos grew up surrounded by folk and traditional music, with the bouzouki being his first instrument. Among vinyl records of Kazantzidis, he discovered rock music and fell in love with the electric guitar. He pursued classical theory studies at the Raymondi Conservatory, where he obtained his Harmony diploma in 2006. In middle school, he began electric guitar lessons with Ioannis Kousis. After high school, he worked as a guitar teacher while continuing lessons with Achilleas Diamantis, who sparked his interest in jazz. In 2015, he graduated from the School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). In 2016, he received a performance certification in electric guitar from the University of West London. In 2018, he began studying at Jazz Athenaeum (now JazzArt). He has performed in various ensembles and styles.

Arionas Gyftakis was born in Kalamata in 1995. At seven, he started violin lessons at the Municipal Conservatory of Kalamata. He started electric bass lessons with Nikos Tsotras and Harry Charalampous four years later. His great interest in jazz music led him at 14 to start jazz bass with Sylvios Syrros. During these four years, he also studied jazz harmony and improvisation. During the same period, he also studied classical bass with Takis Kappogiannis. In May 2013, he took exams at the Berklee College of Music and won the Full Presidential Scholarship. There he studied with John Lockwood, Dave Santoro, Eddie Gomez and Hal Crook. Currently, he is teaching at Jazzart in Athens. His collaborations include musicians such as George Kontrafouris, Spiros Manesis, Takis Paterelis, Andreas Polyzogopoulos, Daniel Rotem, Anastasis Gouliaris, Davis Whitfield, Gabriele Milozzi and others.