Electronic Press Kit
BIO
Guitar player, arranger, composer, Alim Nastaev was born in Nalchik, a small town in the South of Russia in the Caucasus region.
Alim expressed his initial interest in music when he was a little boy. His first musical instrument was an old acoustic guitar. However, Alim became heavily engaged in sports, and he played soccer at a professional level representing the USSR junior team as well as some major league teams of Russia. However, after a serious knee trauma Alim's sports career as a soccer player had to stop. Alim re-discovered his passion for guitar and began self-education.
Early on Alim's music interest was in Blues-Rock style. It was not until later on that he became fascinated by Jazz and its many forms. Alim was accepted as a student to Rostov State (S.V. Rachmaninov) Conservatory, the most prestigious Jazz School in Russia. Alim's teacher was Vic Boreal, famous virtuoso jazz guitar player, performer, arranger and composer. This relationship served as a foundation for Alim's further accomplishments as a musician.
In 2003 Alim successfully participated in Dodj International Jazz Festival (Ukraine), Fifth All-Russian Jazz Competition which takes place once every three years and took a second prize (Russia). In 2004 Alim was a part of the First International Instrumental Guitarists Festival (Moscow, Russia). In 2005 Alim took Grand-Prix at the International Competition "Many-sided Guitar" nominating in Blues, Jazz, Rock and Classic (Moscow). In both 2005 and 2006 Alim was a participant of Rostov International Jazz Festival (Rostov-on-Don, Russia) followed by "MUZENERGO Jazz Festival 2008" (Dubna, Moscow region, Russia), "Cherkasy Jazz International 2008 " (March, Ukraine), "Sumy Jazz Festival 2008" (April, Ukraine), and International Jazz Festival "Usadba Jazz 2008" (the biggest open-air jazz festival in Russia).
In July 2006 Alim was honored to be one of eight musicians worldwide to be a part of the most prestigious world jazz festival and competition "Montreux Jazz Festival 2006 - Montreux International Jazz Guitar Competition" (Montreux, Switzerland).
In August 2007 Alim has received "Fender Scholarship Award" for his participation in Berklee Summer Guitar Session (Boston, MA, USA). He worked with such talented jazz guitarists as Jon Damian, John Baboian and Bruce Saunders. In Boston, Alim has received a Diploma "In Recognition of Outstanding Musicianship" and "Berklee Scholarship Award" to attend Berklee College of Music as a full-time student.
In 2008 Alim received a two-year full scholarship as to attend the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Studies Program at the University of Louisville a graduate student and teaching assistant.
Alim's professional career as a musician made it possible for him to have worked together with some accomplished musicians around the world like "Victor Borilov Quartet" (Russia), Andrei Kondakov (piano, Russia), Nikky McCoy (vocal, USA), Andrei Quint (piano, Spain), Patti Ballinas (drums, Spain), Tyrone Wheeler (bass, USA), Mike Tracy (sax, USA), Jimmy Gallagher (sax, England), Jaime Ginard Palou (drums, Spain), Worthy Davis (vocal, Germany-USA), Onita Boone (vocal, USA), Sergio Brandao (Brasil-USA).
Currently, Alim resides in the USA spending a lot of time performing as well as working on his third CD release.
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