Mike Melito

Jazz drummer Mike Melito was born to be a drummer! Born into a musical family, he knew early on in life what he would do. Mike's father and brother are both trumpet players and his other brother Tom is a drummer. Tom puts sticks in Mike's hands at a very early age and that was it! He learned a ton from Tom and went on to study private drum lessons from RPO percussionist John McNeill. He studied with John from 5th to 11th grade and developed a strong foundation with the drums. Mike bought his first jazz record at age 11 a Bird with Miles recording with Max Roach on drums. He was floored by Max and learned every solo by everyone on that record. Soon he began buying more and more records as well as having access to his family's record collection. He played his first jazz gig with vibraphonist Joe Locke at age 16. The ex-Buddy Rich Saxophonist Joe Romano was in the club that night and hired Mike for a series of gigs around Rochester. From there, work snowballed for Mike. He started getting calls to play all over upstate NY. In the early 90's Mike started to lead some of his own groups as well as freelancing. In 1997 he recorded his first CD as a leader called MY CONCEPTION. The CD received much critical attention and lots of airplay over the country. He since has recorded two other critically acclaimed CDs BOUT TIME 2001 and THE NEXT STEP 2004. He appears on many CDs as a sideman as well. Over the years Mike has performed and recorded with names such as James Moody, Benny Golson, JR Monterose, Barry Harris, Pat LaBarbera, Peter Bernstein,Danilo Perez,Chris Potter,Vincent Herring,Cyrus Chestnut,Harry Allen, John Swana, Eric Alexander,Grant Stewart, David Hazeltine and many more. He currently holds down a weekly gig at the Strahallan Hotel in downtown Rochester with guitarist Bob Sneider and special guests.