Still Within Giorgi Mikadze 2026 CD PW1023

1. Sings Something (Gogi Tsabadze)   6:31
2. Pour Me Another (Giya Kancheli)   5:07
3. Partsa (Giorgi Mikadze)   4:16
4. Tushuri (Tushetian Folk Song)  4:11
5. Blue Eyed Eye (Revaz Laghidze)   6:30
6. Reginella (Sulkhan Tsintsadze)   5:49
7. From Hither to You (Ioseb Kechakmadze)   2:24
8. The Georgian Shepherd (Giorgi Mikadze)   4:53
9. Elene's Song (Giorgi Mikadze)   5:51
10. Keep You Warm (Gogi Tsabadze)   6:06
11. Autumn Mist (Sulkhan Tsintsadze)   4:58

GEORGIAN SONGBOOK VOL.2

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1989, Giorgi Mikadze is a true piano virtuoso, trained in the Russian school tradition. A winner of the most prestigious international classical music competitions, he was poised for a brilliant career as a concert pianist when he chose to explore other musical worlds. His particular affinity for improvised music and jazz led him to settle in the United States. He quickly began collaborating with leading figures such as Jack DeJohnette, Roy Hargrove, Dave Liebman, Meshell Ndegeocello, Antonio Sanchez, Chris Potter, and Lee Ritenour, with whom he continues to tour worldwide to this day.
Deeply attached to and inspired by the folk music of his homeland and by the great composers of Eastern Europe, he is dedicated to creating new forms that blend Georgian tradition, acoustic jazz, and fusion.

Following his acclaimed debut as a bandleader with the album Face to Face (PeeWee! PW1012, October 2023 - Jazz Mag’s Révélation and Jazz News’ Indispensable), Still Within is the second installment of his tribute to 20th-century Georgian composers: Revaz Laghidze, Sulkhan Tsintsadze, Giya Kancheli, Gogi Tsabadze, and Ioseb Kechakmadze.
This time, his guests are Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard. Having performed alongside the greatest musicians - and in particular as Brad Mehldau’s partners for nearly two decades - their respective mastery and sensitivity have contributed to a large number of landmark works in contemporary jazz. Their full commitment to Giorgi Mikadze’s unique musical world lends this music a special depth.

The repertoire still draws on films and plays seen and heard during childhood. In Georgia, these melodies quietly permeate everyday life. They form the foundation of a contemporary collective memory.
Some of these themes possess a distinctly Georgian sensibility shaped by a Western harmonic imagination; and it is this permeability that Giorgi Mikadze, Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard spontaneously embrace, bringing it into the realm of their unbridled improvisations.
Flowing melodies, rumbling sounds, independent voices, asymmetrical dance, consonances and dissonances, distances and proximities. The pieces flow into one another to form a work that powerfully evokes pastoral Georgia. Vast expanses, a distant presence, and circular movement. “Tushuri” evokes the mountainous landscape and a deep, expansive breath. “Georgian Shepherd” was composed with the Georgian mountain shepherd dog in mind - protective and patient, an unshakable force in the silence of the high plateaus. “Partsa,” inspired by a Gurian round dance, shifts the traditional movement toward a different rhythmic horizon. “Pour Me Another” draws inspiration from Giya Kancheli’s “Khanuma,” and other songs on the album preserve an essential element of Georgian theater and cinema: gesture, intimacy, and a bittersweet clarity that avoids all excess.

Beyond his extraordinary technical skills and mastery of numerous musical forms, it is with his bare hands and his big heart that Giorgi Mikadze manages to bring together contrasting worlds to accompany our imagination. The listener is invited to follow the twists and turns of a musical narrative of universal scope. Still Within reaffirms Giorgi Mikadze’s remarkable creative stature. Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard - two of the musicians who have contributed most to the latest innovations in the trio format - are heard here at the peak of their artistry, in complete harmony.

Produced by Vincent Mahey and Giorgi Mikadze
Executive Producer: Virginie Crouail

Recorded by Vincent Mahey on January 26 and 27, 2026, at Studio Sextan A
Assistants: Tristan Barège and Valentin Moricet
Mixing: Arthur Gouret
Mastering: Raphaël Jonin J RAPH i.n.g.

Graphic design: Atelier Bagarit
Photos: Jean-Baptiste Millot
Videos: Igor Juget

Painting: Vera Pagava, Concordance, 1965, oil on canvas, 146 × 116 cm, photo by Alex Krassowski
© Courtesy of the Vera Pagava Cultural Association - AC/VP