Vitali Imereli

(GEORGIA)
swing, gipsy jazz, mainstream, be-bop

The Georgian violin virtuoso lives in Finland and specializes in swing and gipsy jazz, but is also adept with mainstream and bebop, not to mention classical music.

Born 1953 in Kutaisi, Georgia, Imereli started his violin studies at five and continued them later in the National Music Academy of Tbilisi. He taught the first half of the 80’ at the Tbilisi Conservatory. He has performed on most Russian jazz festivals, and, since moving to Finland in 1992, in Western Europe, too. Vitali has collaborated often with the Rosenberg Trio, not the least on his own album Tribute To Stephane Grappelli (-96). His other collaborators include fellow violinists Michael Urbaniak and Didier Lockwood, the late great drummer/bandleader Art Blakey and the Cuban bass maestro Carlos Del Puerto.