“ADAGIO GROOVES” - Peter Xifaras
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
Some albums arrive like fireworks — loud, fast, and gone in a flash. But Adagio Grooves, the latest from composer/producer/musical shapeshifter Peter Xifaras, doesn’t play that game. Instead, it drifts in like dusk on a summer night, setting its own tempo: slow, spacious, and deeply human.
Xifaras has always been a bit of a genre outlaw — one moment weaving symphonies with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, the next conjuring jazz textures that feel like they’re happening in some smoky after-hours club. Adagio Grooves is where those worlds collide. Imagine classical grandeur sitting in the same room as late-night jazz improvisation — and somehow, they get along brilliantly.
The lineup is stacked: Justin Chart on sax, Max Gerl on bass, Scott Jackson on drums, and the Budapest Symphony fleshing out the bigger canvases. At the center is Xifaras himself on keys, guiding the whole thing like a painter adding brushstrokes, sometimes subtle, sometimes bold.
The tracklist tells you everything you need to know — six movements, all with "Adagio" in the title:
“Adagio Blue” – Opens like a film score but eases into a smoky groove, Chart’s sax leading the way while the orchestra lingers in the background like a half-remembered dream.
“Adagio Dream” – Shorter, more intimate, like the kind of tune that makes you pause mid-thought and just float.
“Adagio Groove” – The centerpiece in spirit if not length — funkier, looser, the band leaning into that jazz-meets-classical tension.
“Adagietto” – A nod to the classical tradition, but filtered through Xifaras’ lens. Symphonic and cinematic, but still pulsing with rhythm.
“Adagio Days” – Longest cut on the album, expansive and unhurried. Feels like the soundtrack to memory itself.
“Adagio Nights” – Closes the record with smoky afterglow — the sax and strings almost whispering the album to sleep.
What’s striking here is balance. Nobody’s trying to outshine anyone else. Chart’s sax solos soar but never overwhelm; Gerl’s bass holds the floor steady; Jackson’s drumming keeps things rooted yet nimble; and the Budapest Symphony sweeps in like a tide when needed, then recedes to let the quartet breathe.
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
And Xifaras? He’s less the showman here and more the architect. Every phrase, every layer feels deliberate — but not rigid. It’s music that feels lived-in, not overworked. You can hear the craft, but you also feel the looseness, the groove, the breath.
For an artist with a career as decorated as his — Billboard chart success, awards for composition, humanitarian recognition with Children of Conflict — Adagio Grooves feels like a personal statement. Not a victory lap, but a reminder: music doesn’t have to choose between sophistication and soul. It can be both.
So is it jazz? Classical? Cinematic? None of the above, or maybe all at once. That’s the beauty of it. Adagio Grooves doesn’t ask you to define it — it just asks you to listen. Preferably with the lights low, maybe a glass in hand, and nowhere else you need to be.
“ADAGIO GROOVES” is available now on all major streaming platforms
