Pandelis Karayorgis was born in Athens in 1962. He studied piano and performed in various jazz groups in Greece. In 1985 he moved to Boston and earned BM and MM degrees in music from New England Conservatory, studying with Paul Bley, Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell, Dave Holland and Joe Maneri.

He has led or co-led numerous groups in performances at festivals and clubs in Europe and the United States and Canada.

His recordings appear on labels such as Hat Art, Clean Feed and Leo Records and more recently on Driff Records, an artist-run label co-founded by him and Jorrit Dijkstra.

Some of the most extensive recording/performing collaborations have been with Nate McBride, Curt Newton, Ken Vandermark, Mat Maneri, Guillermo Gregorio, Jorrit Dijkstra, Jeb Bishop, Luther Gray, Jef Charland, Randy Peterson and Dave Rempis, while he has also performed with artists such as Han Bennink, Steve Swell, Tony Malaby, Michael Formanek, Chad Taylor and Jeff Parker.

He has studied and performed extensively Thelonious Monk’s and his debut album "Hand Made" with four Monk’s compositions, was released in 1989.