Jazz prodigy Beka Gochiashvili to bring US band for Tbilisi Christmas show

United States-based Georgian jazz prodigy Beka Gochiashvili and his American band will perform for music enthusiasts at a Tbilisi show celebrating the Orthodox Christmas on January 7.

Gochiashvili, praised by American jazz legend Chick Corea as "a brilliant young piano prodigy”, will bring the band to Republic, a new multi-functional performance space on the Rose Revolution Square.

The group will involve hip-hop artist Rasar Amani, vocals and flute from Elena Pinderhughes as well as Matt Ramsey on bass, Frank Moka on percussion and Mike Mitchell on drums.

See Beka Gochiashvili perform alongside jazz legend Chick Corea at 2012 Tbilisi Jazz Festival below:

Set to feature sounds from jazz funk, fusion and hip-hop genres, the show will host around 500 guests in the first of a series of concerts at the venue designed with special acoustics.

Despite being in his early 20s, Gochiashvili has already played with celebrated jazz names including Chick Corea, Brian Blade and Ravi Coltrane.

Born in Tbilisi, the young artist later graduated from New York’s prestigious Juilliard School in 2014.

He produced his debut recording in 2012, for which the pianist was hailed by the allaboutjazz.com website as "an amazingly talented prodigy from Tbilisi, Georgia [who is] nothing short of extraordinary”.

The young artist was also praised by The Encore as being "already well on his way to becoming the next generation jazz sensation”.

Gochiashvili led jazz trios at age 14 to perform at events including the Black Sea Jazz Festival, the Vienna Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival.

He was 16 when he played alongside Chick Corea at the 2012 Tbilisi Jazz Festival. Gochiashvili came back to perform at the 20th anniversary edition of the festival earlier this year.