“Swings confidently ... full of clever reharmonizations and hip syncopation. ”
- Bill Milkowski, JAZZ TIMES, April 2012
"Baker has a playful approach to melody..."
- Shaun Brady, DOWNBEAT Magazine, March 2012
Australian Jazz Pianist Matt Baker has performed at jazz festivals, clubs and concert halls in Australia, Europe, USA and the Pacific. As of 2010, he is now proud to call New York City his home. Aside from performing as a solo artist, he is fast becoming one of the most sought after accompanists, sidemen and Musical Directors on the New York scene....
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“Swings confidently ... full of clever reharmonizations and hip syncopation. ”
- Bill Milkowski, JAZZ TIMES, April 2012
"Baker has a playful approach to melody..."
- Shaun Brady, DOWNBEAT Magazine, March 2012
Australian Jazz Pianist Matt Baker has performed at jazz festivals, clubs and concert halls in Australia, Europe, USA and the Pacific. As of 2010, he is now proud to call New York City his home. Aside from performing as a solo artist, he is fast becoming one of the most sought after accompanists, sidemen and Musical Directors on the New York scene.
Matt regularly plays all over New York, including engagements at Birdland, Smalls Jazz Club, The Zinc Bar, The Iridium, The Kitano, Le Cirque, Bemelmans Bar in The Carlyle Hotel, Tomi Jazz, The Garage, Somethin’ Jazz and Cleopatra’s Needle. He performs professionally with some of New York’s top musicians including Gregory Hutchinson, Hassan JJ Shakur, Marco Panascia, Jim Cammack, Jerome Jennings, Dayna Stephens, Tony Middleton, Christine Ebersole and The Artie Shaw Orchestra, and once performed an impromptu duo set with trumpet legend Roy Hargrove at Smalls Jazz Club. Matt has also toured as Pianist and Musical Director for multi-platinum recording artist Patrizio Buanne.
In March 2011, Baker recorded a new album in New York entitled ‘Underground’ featuring Gregory Hutchinson, Joe Sanders, Jeremy Pelt and Dayna Stephens. The album, which received wonderful reviews in Downbeat, Jazz Times and Jazz Wise UK, features a selection of brand new original work alongside some classic jazz standards, inspired from living the New York underground jazz scene: endless nights of clubs & jam sessions.
Matt Baker tied fifth place in the 2003 Montreux International Solo Jazz Piano competition and was a semi-finalist in 2004 and 2005. The Montreux Jazz Festival also engaged The Matt Baker Trio as their exclusive in-house band 2 years straight, where they performed 17 nights in the Montreux Festival Jazz Club, accompanying and supporting many of the festivals headlining artists.
A student of Taylor Eigsti’s since moving to New York, Matt has also spent time watching piano legend Oscar Peterson perform, as well as studying with Mulgrew Miller, Benny Green, Aaron Goldberg, Jacky Terrasson, James Williams and Ella Fitzgerald’s life-long accompanist Paul Smith.
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