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Veli Mert

Veli Mert, a Turkish drummer and composer, first began taking private drum lessons in high school. While Mert went on to become a biologist specializing in neuroscience, his other passion, music, remained.

Over the years, Mert has accompanied many musicians on stage and explored all genres. However, prominent jazz artists, such as Miles Davis and Bill Evans, made Mert realize that his true love was jazz.

Kicking off his solo career, Mert recorded and released 'George's Dilemma,' written by Clifford Brown. Mert, intrigued by genre-blending, set out to fuse traditional and modern jazz with Latin rhythm and Middle-eastern melodies. From there, eager to keep creating music outside the box, Mert took 'Arabia,' written by Curtis Fuller, and turned it into something new and different, Latin jazz with middle eastern melodies.

Influenced by Israeli pianist Shai Maestro, Mert's latest single, 'Lonely Woman,' is inspired heavily by contemporary jazz and is quieter than his previous work.

Mert's style is dark and melancholic, emphasizing middle-eastern melodies. Mert has worked with and is comparable to strong names such as Shaul Eshet, Melisa Dopazo, and Eli Mary.