Bassist Nick Panoutsos has become an increasingly prominent voice in the New York City music community since moving from the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016. He has earned a reputation as a versatile collaborator and leader on both upright and electric bass. His 2022 solo bass album, Monos, features his own compositions and adaptations of Greek folk songs. His quartet, Ithaki, will release its live-recorded debut album this winter.
Originally from San Jose, California, Panoutsos studied with Bruce Moyer, principal bass of Monterey Symphony, and John Shifflett, the beloved first-call Bay Area jazz bassist. Both musicians helped to refine Panoutsos’s technique and gave him the skills necessary to pick up work as a sideman, and eventually a bandleader. When he moved to New York, Panoutsos began taking lessons with Martin Wind, Gregg August, and Yasushi Nakamura, in addition to performing several nights a week at clubs in midtown Manhattan and the East Village. Throughout his time in New York, Panoutsos has collaborated with Queens-based singer songwriter duendita, and has performed with pianist Gil Goldstein. During return visits to the West Coast, he has led his own band at the San Jose Jazz Festival, toured locally and recorded with the Richard Howell Quartet, and performed alongside Bay Area improvisers Steven Lugerner and Richard Sears. In addition to his work as a freelance performer, Panoutsos has worked as an educator at the Stanford Jazz Workshop for four years, and continues to teach private music lessons for all ages in Brooklyn.