Taulant Mehmeti

taulantmusic.com

Kosovo born Albanian guitarist Taulant Mehmeti is a natural improviser, drawing upon the rich Balkan rhythms and gypsy music he grew up hearing and playing. Along with his deep interest in jazz and Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Wes Montgomery as major influences, his musical sensibility is equally informed by funk, rock, and world music genres.

As a youngster in war-torn Kosovo, Taulant Mehmeti amazed local audiences with his songwriting talent and musicianship. Under the mentorship of renowned local jazz guitarist Armend Xhaferi, he developed into a leading jazz player in Kosovo and Albania. Now an active performer on the New York scene, Mehmeti has played as a leader and a sideman in venues including Blue Note, B.B.Kings and Iridium. Taulant's performances have taken him to over 20 countries and to varied settings including TED Talks and Prishtina Jazz Festival in Kosovo; Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland, International Gypsy Romanian Festival Bucharest; Tirana Jazz Festival and Shkodra Summer Jazz Albania; Castellon Jazz Festival in Spain, Reykjavik Jazz Festival in Iceland, Jazz a Carthage in Tunisia, Contours of Contemporary Kosovo Istanbul, Turkey, Nordic Jazz Fest in Washington, DC; Jazz Appreciation Month at WBGO in New Jersey and Stars of Tomorrow, Jazz in the Square and Ideas City Festival in New York.

He has performed with artists such as Vic Juris, Ingrid Jensen, Armend Xhaferi, Ilir Bajri, Marko Churnchetz, Linda Briceño, Baden Goyo, Nesim Maxhuni & Gabriel Chakarji. His Balkan-Jazz album Song to my Brother features Ingrid Jensen and received positive press and airplay, including a live performance at KTV National Kosovo TV. Other recordings include his performances with Kosovo Jazz drummer Nesim Maxhuni’s Hip-Bop Quintet release Syndrome; and with Ernesto Llorens on the album On My Gypsy Way featuring gypsy guitarists Bireli Lagrene, Stochelo Rosenberg and Adrien Moingnard.

Taulant Mehmeti finished his BFA with Honors at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and his masters degree from SUNY Purchase, holding the distinction for being the first jazz guitarist from Kosovo to study in the US.