About Me
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A California native, Matt has been involved with music since the age of 11. Picking up the saxophone for the first time in the 6th grade, he played and learned mostly by ear, grabbing melodies from pop tunes and T.V. shows. Throughout high school and college, he studied music and jazz and played in many different groups both in school and outside of school. While studying at Humboldt State University in northern California he became involved in everything from jazz and symphonic large ensembles, to smaller groups within many different varieties of music. Styles he has played range from jazz, blues, reggae, and hip- hop, to rockn roll, funk, groove,and soul. This experience within such a variety of types of music lends to his ability to immediately fit in with many styles, and having played within many large and small ensembles and horn sections, he is as adept at lending his skills as a sideman as he is at leading a group. Writing and arranging, sight reading, memorizing charts, learning by ear, coming up with impromptu four-part lines for a live horn section - these are all within his realm of experience. Percussion is another area in which Matt has much experience. A natural rhythmic instinct led Matt to begin learning various rhythms using both hand and sticking techniques on various instruments, and while in college, he studied percussion and took conga lessons.
A veteran of the road, Matt is no stranger to the touring circuit, most recently having been the touring saxman with legendary Reggae star Burning Spear in his "Burning Band". Currently he can be seen playing in and around Los Angeles with The Watts Ensemble - a large orchestral Ensemble - playing the eclectic, cinematic pieces of Brian Watson the groups leader/composer/arranger. Prior to that he was involved in "The Secret Burlesque Show" (www.scburlesque.com; www.myspace.com/scburlesque) in a sax/bass/drums trio known as "The Lucky Ones". Matt's most recent personally creative venture was an eclectic groove/funk/jazz trio named Triose (triosemusic.com) which he co-founded while living in Ithaca, New York. He cut his gigging and touring chops with Northern California bands Spank (now the Bump Foundation) and Nucleus (with whom he toured the U.S. for 3 years). A studio veteran as well, his album credits include the self-titled Nucleus album - "Nucleus", Nucleus - "Live at the Center", The self-titled Spank album - "Spank", the Triose EP - "Triose", The Frequency on their EP - "The Frequency", and most recently on the forthcoming debut releases from The Watts Ensemble and Trulio Disgracias.
Matt has studied with or taken lessons from Virginia Ayoob(classical saxophone), Dan Aldag (jazz studies), Dave Valdez (jazz, funk, latin sax), Phillip Greenlief (jazz sax), Rob Scheps (jazz, funk sax), and Howie Kaufman (percussion, congas). Some of his main saxophone and musical influences are John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Joe Henderson, Chris Potter, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Earth Wind and Fire, Dave Holland Quintet, Charlie Hunter, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones to name a few. Matt has played with and/or shared the stage with Burning Spear, G. Love and Special Sauce, The Motet, The New Mastersounds, Robert Walters' 20th Congress, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Sam Kininger Band, Om Trio, The Slip, STS9, and L.A. producer Walter Afanasieff (Walter A).
