New York City since late 2000. While in New York, he has performed at

such landmark venues as Carnegie Hall; Blue Note, NYC;Irridium,NYC;

The Kitano,NYC; Zinc Bar, NYC; 55Bar, NYC; The Bitter End, NYC;

Smalls, NYC; Smoke,NYC; Jazz Standard,NYC; The Deer Head Inn, Delaware

Water Gap, PA; World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA; among others. Over

the years George has performed both in the USA and Internationally

with such diverse group of world-class artists of all generations as

Duane Eubanks (trumpet), Leo Genovese (piano), Mark Helias (bass),

Essiet Essiet(bass), Harvie S (bass), Valeri Ponomarev

(trumpet), Avishai E.Cohen (trumpet), Emilio Solla (piano),Gabriel

Grossi(harmonica), John Ellis (sax), Raul Midon (guitar/voice), Bill

Carrothers (piano), Wayne Escoffery (sax), Freddie Bryant (guitar),

Edsel Gomez (piano), Nilson Matta (bass), Lionel Loueke

(guitar/voice), Craig Handy (sax), Badal Roy (tablas w/Miles

Davis),Sergio Brandao(bass),Thiago Espirito Santo(el.bass),the late

jazz clarinet legend Perry Robinson,Brazilian jazz piano legend Dom

Salvador and countless other top musicians from all-over the world.

Born George ‘Gia’ Melikishvili in Tbilisi, Georgia and years into life

as a professional musician in his country, George received his first

formal musical education after being offered a scholarship to the

famed Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA , going on to become the

first Georgian-born drummer to graduate with a degree in Jazz

Performance in the United States. Upon graduating, George relocated to

New York City, quickly establishing himself as one of the most

versatile and in-demand drummers & percussionists on the scene. Based

on George’s great reputation among the world class colleagues earned

by years of work as a sidemen as well as a

leader , the American Federation Of Musicians and the US Government

unconditionally granted George Mel highly prestigious “Extraordinary

Abilities in The Arts” category status of permanent residency in the

United States in 2007.

George released his first album as a leader and composer with 2004's

“Winding Road” and followed up with 2010’s “Strerams of

Consciousness”,both to rave reviews and both reflecting George’s

deeply personal view that music should exist as a human expression of

beauty and emotion through sound, rather than simply serviing

market-defined labels and conventional definitions and Jazz in

particular, as an improv and interplay that requires an open mind

from both the artist and the listener. "