Manolis Mikelis is one of the most important, but also the most overlooked Greek jazz musicians. He was born in Athens in 1924. As a child he studied classical piano for six years. He started his professional career playing the accordion during the German occupation and in the late ’40s started recording with artists such as Kostas Kapnisis and Mary Lo.

In 1950 he moved to Beirut, Lebanon, where he remained for four years, resuming his classical piano studies while playing at clubs. He also played gigs in Milan and Paris and then he moved to Frankfurt. In Germany he played on U.S. Forces bases and had the opportunity to work with Percy Heath, Albert Mangelsdorff and more. After a short stint in Morocco he settled in Spain. He lived there for four years and collaborated with Phil Woods, Sahib Shihab and Benny Bailey. He also became good friends with Tete Montoliu.

In 1962 he returned to Greece, where he recorded for films, playing piano and vibes and worked on a steady basis at the Athens Hilton's Galaxy Bar for 12 years and collaborated with musicians such as Mimis Plessas and Gerasimos Lavranos. During the ‘70s he performed with many international artists that visited Greece, such as Ray Brown, Milt Jackson, Grady Tate and Monty Alexander. He also worked with many Greek popular artists. During the ‘70s he started collaborating with George Filippidis and George Trantalidis, who later formed the band Sphinx with Markos Alexiou. It is even said that Mikelis was originally intended as the group’s pianist.

He died in 1990.