Matt’s Story

Originally from Washington DC, Matt spent years gigging and teaching around the Baltimore-Washington area. Ultimately, Matt’s growing fascination with the early roots of jazz drew him to New Orleans, where he currently resides, performs and teaches.

Having grown up playing classical violin, his foray into the jazz world began with his discovery of the Be-bop and Hard-bop era — Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Bud Powell, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis, etc. — but it was not long before he discovered the legacy of violin in jazz. Matt was quickly sucked into the world of Jazz Manouche after hearing Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli in his teens. Fascinated by Django and the prominent role of violin in this style of jazz, he spent years seeking out Manouche musicians and studying under many of the best violinists in the style from the US and Europe (including Tcha Limberger, Jason Anick, Evan Price, Caroline Bugala, Fiona Monbet, Alexandre Tripodi, Tim Kliphuis).

While he continues to enjoy playing in Jazz Manouche outfits, over the years Matt has become much more focused on the roots of jazz and on the great early jazz violinists of the past. Matt draws from Eddie South, Svend Asmussen, Stuff Smith and Joe Venuti as much as he does from Grappelli. Aside from the legacy of jazz violin, Matt is particularly interested in New Orleans music and traditional jazz — the likes of Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Jelly Roll Morton influence his playing just about as much as the aforementioned violin-greats.

Matt recorded on several albums while living in the DC-area, and he has participated in numerous other projects since moving to New Orleans. His own traditional jazz band, The Sheepshead Serenaders, recorded in New Orleans in 2022 and recently released their debut album. Matt was also featured on The Garden of Joy’s recent debut album.

Matt can be found most days of week playing with various bands in New Orleans. Of those bands he plays most often with The Chris Christy Quintet, a group that combines jazz with original music composed by bandleader Chris Christy, and arranged by Matt and the other bandmembers. This group currently performs four times a week on Frenchmen street in New Orleans (at the Spotted Cat on Frenchmen street every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 2-6pm, and at the Royal Frenchmen Hotel every Sunday from 9-12pm). The band is currently in the process of recording an album of all original music that is set to release in the summer of 2023. Stay tuned for updates on that front!