ABOUT
Growing up in rural New Hampshire injected Matt with a deep spiritual connection to the simplicity and truth of the natural world. Frequent childhood trips to Boston expanded his cultural horizons, sparking a profound affinity for the music of the African diaspora: Jazz, Blues, Reggae, and Afro-Latin rhythms. Driven by an intense creative pulse and a desire to understand the socio-political and psychological currents of humanity, Matt built a multifaceted career as a keyboardist, singer, composer, arranger, and educator.
Just before the turn of the century, Matt earned his Master's degree in Jazz Studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, studying alongside legends Geri Allen, Dave Holland, and Ran Blake. He launched his professional career on the bandstands of Boston, quickly turning heads with his deep groove and formidable arranging chops. Soon, he was playing sold-out houses across the US and Europe with blues giant Ronnie Earl and the maestro of New Orleans soul, Johnny Adams.
This street-level masterclass in soul and blues allowed Matt to return to Boston and distill his passion for Caribbean rhythms. The universe answered his musical seeking almost simultaneously: he secured private study with his idol, the iconic Latin pianist Eddie Palmieri, while launching a parallel, deep-dive exploration into the legacy of Bob Marley.
In 2001, Matt joined the piano faculty at Berklee College of Music, teaching studio piano, Hammond organ, and Afro-Cuban styles. There, he created the smash-hit performance class, “The Music and Life of Bob Marley,” taking ensembles of talented young musicians from across the globe on a radical immersion into roots reggae. His work has taken him on many cultural/musical immersion trips to Jamaica which led to musical experiences with many in Marley’s inner circle, including Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt and Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith, and other musicians who developed reggae music including Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare. He has written nearly 40 full-scale arrangements of Marley’s music and taught the class outside of Berklee, most notably at the ecstatic northern California summer immersion camp, Jazz Camp West. In 2020, he launched Art of Reggae (www.artofreggae.com), a popular online platform preserving and teaching Afro-Jamaican keyboard and guitar traditions.
Matt’s artistic output spans over three decades of celebrated projects. He leads the long-running Latin and Reggae dance band ¡Combo Sabroso!, co-created the Afro-Cuban/reggae fusion band Rebel Tumbao, and delivered sharp political satire with his band Liquid Revolution on their album Dragonfly Taxi. In 2018, he joined the internationally renowned jazz-fusion reggae powerhouse Groundation, touring Europe, Brazil, and Hawaii, while serving as a primary keyboardist and arranger on their benchmark album One Rock and its companion album Dub Rock. His deep jazz-reggae sensibilities also find a home in Mix Up Mix Up, a project heavily influenced by Ernest Ranglin and Monty Alexander.
In 2024, Matt turned his focus to the expansive world of ambient electronic music. Merging the organic warmth of the piano and other acoustic instruments with intricate electronic sound design, he shapes a sea of knobs, blinking lights, and laptop interfaces into a unified sonic tapestry. Carrying the imprints of all his past musical worlds, this new project is designed to deliver awe-inspiring beauty in a time of human and planetary transition. For this latest evolutionary chapter, he records and performs under the moniker UNMARKED ROUTES.
