Rajesh Mehta - Malagasy Breath (2024)

In addition to issuing several jazz-improv albums, trumpeter/composer Rajesh Mehta is also a talented electrical engineer. Born in Calcutta, India during 1964, Mehta was raised in New Jersey, where he picked up the trumpet. When he arrived as a student at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) during the early '80s, his intentions were obviously non-musical, as he sought to solely study electrical engineering. But soon after, his desire to play music grew too great to ignore, as he continued on with music as well as his engineering studies. In 1986, Mehta was awarded an 'Eloranta Fellowship' to study jazz in France, which he accepted and points to as the turning point in his career where he was "turned into an avant-garde musician." After lending his trumpet playing talents to albums by other artists (Mark Harvey's Aardvark Steps Out and Pavel Fajt & Pluto's 1996 self-titled release, Mehta embarked on a solo career during the late '90s. Thus far, Mehta has issued the albums Day in Benedict, Orka, Window Shopping, Reconfigurations, and Innovative Music Meeting, and performs on stage on with a pair of ensembles that he leads. ~ Greg Prato