Matt was encouraged to start playing music at an early age by his dad, who is a music teacher himself.  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.

Whilst studying at The Royal Academy of Music on the Jazz course, Matt has been involved in some incredible projects, including: A big band project with Chris Potter and Dave Holland; a big band project of 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 currently studies piano with Nikki Iles, Tom Cawley and Gwilym Simcock, and studies 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 to promote gender equality.

From February – April 2017 Matt toured with the band ‘Lack of Afro’ as part of the ‘Help Baby’ tour and March – June 2018 he toured with the band as part of the ‘Jack of all Trades’ tour. Venues he played at included The 100 Club (London), The Hoochie Coochie (Newcastle), The Blues Kitchen (London) and at The Bussey Building (London). 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.

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 a very warm reception everywhere they played. 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.