Imagine yourself in on an idyllic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, surrounded by beaches, architecture, culture, beauty, history and nightlife. Your vision is limited only by your own ingenuity and creativity. These eight tracks, each spanning 5 – 7 minutes, were brought to life in April of 2025 when a diverse group of musicians, photographers, designers and artists convened on Paros to capture an inspirational musical journey rooted in jazz, electronica, Mediterranean flavors and poetry. Members of The Sound of Paros are Marc Buronfosse (Fender VI, doublebass), Ferruccio Gadani (percussion), Arnaud Ginioux (electric bass), Panagiotis Kostopoulos (drums), Yiannis Papadopoulos (piano) and Stavros Manthos (saxophone).  Special guests include Franco Ambrosetti (flugelhorn), Nefeli Fasouli (vocals), Kimon Xigkis (qanoun), Jean-Philippe Carlot (poetry).

The album features relaxing Cycladic island music gives us emotional content that resonates across cultural boundaries.  Buronfosse wrote or co-wrote four of the songs – Soul, Wake Up; Kostos Blues; Truth; Under the Same Sun. The opener “Soul, Wake Up” introduces the silky vocals of Nefeli Fasouli. Manthos’ saxophone illuminates “Kostos Blues,” a track that he co-wrote. Electric bassist Ginioux composed “Ali Baba” and has a resonant groove. While I’m familiar with covers like “Maiden Voyage,” “My Foolish Heart” and “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes,” these musicians follow the charts only to their own point of musical departure. The instrumental closing track, “Under the Same Sun,” offers no vocals or poetry, but it does conjure some more uptempo images of island life. I was left wishing that the band would’ve really cut lose on a self-penned offering that reimagines the Paros’ strong ferocious summer winds called meltemia that attract windsurfers and kitesurfers.

With a glass of wine in hand, this album provided a great base for launching my own interstellar journey. It got me imagining a personal canvas of Mediterranean colors, hues, flavors and poetry. It turns out that the serene beauty of the luminous island of Paros has actually stirred the imagination of artists since ancient times. As the liner notes say, the Cyclades Islands are “a place where space and time seem to expand and merge into one dimension: spacetime.”

Compared to Mykonos, Paros still is still a wonderfully authentic and sleepy enclave with a long and deep history. Let’s hope this album doesn’t change that with the island being overrun with jet setters, tourists and rampant development.

Like the music on this album, I would hope that the aromatic scent of lavender continues to hang on a light sea breeze in the verdant hills of Paros. The Sound of Paros’ Spacetime also got me thinking of olive groves, pine forests, narrow stone laneways, stunning traditional and neo-classical architecture, delicious tavernas, friendly locals, and that pleasant vibe found only in Greece. Now, if only Door Dash would deliver some claypot chickpeas, fava bean dip, kakavia fish soup, zucchini, tomato balls, Grecian cheese and fresh seafood to accompany my wine and music on this album. (Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)