The Short Bio...

In 2003, the trio was selected as the house band, to perform seventeen nights straight in the Montreux Jazz Club. This year they performed each night of the festival in Harry’s New York Bar, and gave a concert in the main jazz venue of the festival, ‘The Casino Barriere’. Matt also represented Australia and gained fifth place in the 2003 Montreux International Solo Jazz Piano competition; an internationally acclaimed competition open to jazz pianists from any corner of the globe, and was a runner up as well in 2004 and 2005.

His music has taken him three times over to the Jazz capital of the world, New York, as well as over to New Zealand for a series of solo and trio performances as well at the Queenstown Jazz Festival. Back home he has performed in Jazz Festivals and concerts all around Australia - Perth, York, Brisbane, Broken Hill, Bundaberg, Lightning Ridge, Gladstone, Noosa, Kiama, Thredbo, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, York, Sanctuary Cove, Mackay, Darwin, Newcastle, Wollongong, Hamilton, Coonabarabran, Horsham, Orange, The Blue Mountains, Goulburn, Gundagai, Mudgee, Tamworth, Grafton, Ballina, Twin Towns, The Gold Coast, Camden Haven, The Hunter Valley, Manly and Darling Harbour.

In December 2002, Matt returned home from his third trip to New York. He spent a week with Jazz piano legend Oscar Peterson, watching him play every night at the Blue Note, and spent many hours with him between performances talking music, piano, careers and just becoming good friends.

Matt, a student of New York pianists Benny Green and James Williams, revisited these wonderful players for some more lessons, and in previous trips has also studied casually with Mulgrew Miller, Aaron Goldberg, Eric Reed, Jacky Terrasson, Stephen Scott, Laurence Hobgood, Ralph Sutton, and Ella Fitzgerald's life-long accompanist Paul Smith.

In Montreux 2004, Matt spent some personal time with jazz legend Herbie Hancock and Cuban pianist Michel Camilo, studying their music, concepts and approaches to modern jazz.

Back home Matt has toured Australia extensively with trumpet virtuoso James Morrison. He has played for Quincy Jones, Wynton Marsalis and Harry Connick Jnr., and has also been the support act for Jazz legends Tony Bennett and Al Jarreau. Since December 2000, Matt is now the resident pianist with Australia's well-known Jazz band, “Galapagos Duck”, and played in John Morrison's Swing City from 1999 to 2003.

June 2003 saw the release of Matt‘s 2nd album, recorded in December 2002. The album features John Morrison (brother of James) on Drums, and Phil Stack (James Morrison sextet, Thirsty Merc) on Bass. The album showcases the trio, but also features some of Sydney’s top horn players, and some fiery solo piano.

In June 2006, Matt released his 3rd album, "From an afternoon with the Mountains". The album features two new young up and coming giants, Alex Boneham and Ko Omura. Sydney percussionist Akyho Akhrif joins the trio for the project too. On the album, the group explores a completely new original sound with Cuban, Brazilian, Classical and Jazz influences .

Matt quoted of the album and project...
... "Many musicians before have taken classical music and jazzed it up. I wanted to go the other way; by taking my music and expressing some of it with a classical sound, yet while still weaving the jazz through..."

... "A lot of inspiration for this album has come from my travels to Switzerland, to the Montreux Jazz Festival. One major part of the album is "The Mountain Suite", a three-piece suite for two of the mountains that surround Montreux (Le Gramont, and Les Dents Du Midi) and the Lake (Lake Geneva)..."

... "This album also marks my first collaboration with a Chamber Orchestra. I have wanted to play with a real classical orchestra for a long time now, and the fantastic musicians in the orchestra made it all a magical experience.
Lake (from The Mountain Suite) was actually composed in one take, in the Montreux Conservatory, Switzerland, as a solo piano work. Luckily I had the recorder on. After listening back, I decided this had to be written for orchestra, and so transcribed the piece from the recording and arranged it, changing nothing exactly as it was played (or composed) at the time and there was born The Mountain Suite... "

... "Many things in life inspire different emotions within us; love, sadness, happiness, admiration, sorrow, and more. Music to me now is an expression of emotion; a portrait , in the form of melody, harmony and rhythm. Every song on this album is a musical portrait of different parts of my life; of people, places or events that have inspired me in some way. I want to share these emotions through the music on this album... " MB

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The Long Story...

Matt began learning the piano at the age of five, and having grown up in a household filled with music, his love for Jazz and performing was evident, and before even leaving school, he was out playing gigs at the age of 15. In the early years, he won a number of talent quests, including the Australian Youth in Jazz competition, and in 1999 at the age of 23, completed the 4 year Bachelor of Music Jazz Studies degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

The career path Matt now follows all began at the Sydney Casino in 1996, where he met Australian Jazz Legend John Morrison, when they were thrown together in a trio at the last minute. When asked by John and double bassist Natalie Morrison, "What would you like to play?", Matt called the tune "All Of Me" - the exact arrangement - note for note - that John and Natalie had recorded with brother James Morrison playing piano, on their recent 'Live at the Sydney Opera House' album. With no time to talk through the song, let alone rehearse, they dived into the tune at breakneck tempo, and it swung like a gem from start to end. "He played it better than James did !", John remarked.

Since then, John began to use Matt in his trio, along with young double bassist Phil Stack. The dynamic 'trio' grew together and in March 2000 Matt released his first album with them, "I Got It Bad" - recorded live at Sydney's Soup Plus Jazz club.

In April 1997, Matt was noticed by international Jazz Legend "Harry Connick Jnr." After having met a few times, Harry then decided to take some time out of his Australian tour to spend with Matt, and help him along with his music. They got together at a piano in the hotel at which Connick was staying, and jammed together through the night. Matt also watched the master at work too, learning first hand a lot of the great "New Orleans piano grooves" Harry has made so famous.

In 1999, Matt was invited to join John Morrison's "Swing City" Big Band. Since then he has swung out with the band at events such as the 1999 and 2001 'Big Bold and Brassy' Jazz in the Park concerts, to an audience of 10,000, and the three consecutive sell-out concerts at Taronga Park Zoo, for the 'Twilight at Taronga' series. As well, Swing City in September 2000 presented the "Legends of Australian Jazz" concert in the Sydney Domain, to an audience of an estimated 50,000, as part of the 'Olympics Live' program, and staged 4 huge concerts in Darling Harbour and Hyde Park for the 2001, 2002 and 2003 New Years Eve Extravaganza's. The band continues a busy schedule of corporate work, concerts, and touring.

Artist director 'Ignatius Jones' approached Matt in July 2000 after seeing him perform at 'The Basement', and offered to work as artistic director for his future performances and forthcoming albums. Ignatius Jones has built himself up to be one of the most powerful and influential figures in the entertainment industry today. Jones has had a hugely successful career of not only performing in rock'n'roll, jazz, cabaret, ballet and theatre, and following a high profiled solo career as a singer, but also television show hosting, countless television guest appearances, writing, journalism, acting, appearing as a guest performer on movie soundtracks, and among many other attributes, directing. Ignatius was contracted by Ric Burch to artistically direct the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Matt has spent many an hour rehearsing and polishing up the 'act' under Ignatius' direction. Ignatius also assisted Matt in the light of a Business Manager, giving advice and help on the business front as well, contacts along the way, and pointing him in the general direction.

In September 2000 Matt performed in what was one of the greatest honours of his entire life - The Olympic Opening Ceremony. He was 'the' piano player behind John Morrison's "Extra Big" Swing City Big Band, James Morrison, Human Nature and Julie Anthony, in the welcoming fanfare segment for Juan Antonio Samaranch, and the presentation of the Australian National Anthem.

Since December 2000, Matt has been the resident piano player / singer with Australia's most well-known Jazz band, "Galapagos Duck". He is a featured performer in the band, bringing his virtuosic piano and smooth crooning into each and every performance. "The Duck" are generally on the road a couple of times a month, touring various states in Australia.

In 2000 as well, Matt returned home from his second trip to New York, spending five months there singing and playing in various venues both solo and also with a trio. He also spent some time studying with some of the great pianists - Benny Green, Mulgrew Miller, Jacky Terrasson, James Williams, Eric Reed, Stephen Scott, Lawrence Hobgood, Ralph Sutton, and Ella Fitzgerald's life-long accompanist Paul Smith. Matt also spent his time over there with jazz singer and vocal coach Marion Cowings, who was also Harry Connick Jnr.'s teacher.

He has performed many a time with James Morrison and Don Burrows, and works as the accompanist for television's Monica Trapaga, in her Big Band and also her smaller group "Monica and the Moochers". He has played for trumpet virtuoso Wynton Marsalis, and has also been the support act for Jazz legends Tony Bennett and Al Jarreau. 2002 also saw Matt team up for the first time as accompanist for Delilah, Maria Venuti, Bert Newton, Daryl Somers and Australian jazz vocal legend Marie Wilson. In September 2002, 2003 and 2004, at the Noosa Jazz Festival, Matt performed a series of duet concerts with Australia's greatest jazz pianist Kevin Hunt; no rhythm section, just 2 pianos.

In December 2002, Matt returned home from his third trip to New York. He spent a week with Jazz piano legend Oscar Peterson, watching him play every night at the Blue Note, and spent many hours with him between performances talking music, piano, careers and just becoming good friends. Being one of the most inspirational experiences of Matt's career, when he returned home, he recorded his new album the following weekend - "Talkin Soul Food". This album pays tribute to a lot of Matt's pianistic influences: Phineas Newborn Jnr., Count Basie, Bobby Timmons, Benny Green, James Williams, Herbie Hancock, and of course Oscar Peterson. The album was released in June 2003 and features John Morrison on Drums and Phil Stack on Double Bass. As well as being Matt's vocal debut, the album showcases the trio and features some of Sydney's top horn players along with some fiery solo piano. One track actually features Matts dad, 'Ian' growling away on the trombone.

June of 2003 was also a landmark month - The Matt Baker Trio went away for their first tour to Europe, to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The trio were invited as the house band, to perform seventeen nights straight in the Montreux Jazz Club, as well as some occasional gigs in the private chalets of festival director Claude Nobs. In 2004 they returned and performed each night of the festival in Harry’s New York Bar, and gave a concert in the main jazz venue, ‘The Casino Barriere’. Matt also spent some time with jazz legend Herbie Hancock, studying the music and concepts Herbie and his band are currently exploring. In 2003 Matt represented Australia and gained fifth place in the Montreux International Solo Jazz Piano competition; an internationally acclaimed competition open to jazz pianists from any corner of the globe, and was a runner up in 2004 and 2005.

Currently Matt is back home, based in Sydney, working jazz clubs, festivals, concerts and other gigs, though moving more frequently between Europe and Australia...