Matt was encouraged to start playing music at an early age by his dad. At the age of 7 he started having classical piano lessons, and by the time he was 11, he had started learning the trumpet as well. His brother was also learning drums and jazz guitar, and he had a big influence on Matt’s musical interests whilst he was growing up.

From 2017-2021, Matt studied jazz piano at The Royal Academy of Music. During that time Matt was involved in some incredible projects, including: A big band project with Chris Potter and Dave Holland; a big band project playing the music of Steely Dan, featuring Hamish Stuart; a small band project run by Laurence Cottle and a symphonic brass project run by Mike Lovett. He studied piano with Nikki Iles, Tom Cawley and Gwilym Simcock, and studied composition with Pete Churchill.

Matt has performed with soul singers Joss Stone, Mica Paris, Beverley Knight and Angelo Starr. Highlights with Joss Stone included a TV performance on the Alan Titchmarsh Show and a performance at European Parliament in Brussels. He also recorded a duet with Joss on the track ‘Free Me 2017,’ which was recorded for UBS for international women’s day.

From February – April 2017 Matt toured with the band ‘Lack of Afro’ as part of the ‘Hello Baby’ tour and March – June 2018 he toured with the band as part of the ‘Jack of all Trades’ tour. Any upcoming releases/tour dates can be found on the Lack of Afro website. Matt also played on Lack of Afro’s E.P ‘Back in Business’ featuring Wax and Herbal T and on ‘Jack of all Trades’ released in 2018.

Matt performed on soul singer Ashton’s Jones’ debut album ‘Toast’ to critical acclaim. He has performed all over the country at numerous jazz festivals and venues with the band, including Cambridge Jazz festival, Cheltenham Jazz Festival, The Pizza Express Holborn, Kansas Smittiy’s and Port Eliot Festival to name a few. The band supported ‘Incognito’ on their Cheltenham Jazz Festival gig, and has performed live on BBC Suffolk as part of their BBC introducing sessions. 

More recently, Matt has recorded and performed with singer, guitarist and writer Rosie Frater-Taylor. They recently played at The Jazz Cafe, and performed a live streamed gig at Ronnie Scott’s at the beginning of 2021. Rosie’s music has been played on Jazz FM, BBC radio 6 music, and BBC radio 2. Matt features on Rosie’s new album ‘Bloom’ on the tracks Hey, Crazy and Better Days.

A highlight of Matt’s own creative endeavours recently was organising a short 7 day tour in the summer of 2019 with his septet. The band played at venues all over the South West of England, and received some outstanding reviews. The music was a combination of Matt’s arrangements of American songbook tunes, and original compositions.

Matt plays Nord keyboards, and was recently made a Nord artist. You can have a look at his page on Nord’s website here.