Matt Wilson Quartet
“Besides being a great drummer and a promising composer;
Matt Wilson knows how to lead a band!”
Boston Globe
“One of the best working bands in New York City!”
New York Times
“May have created a new genre-Garage Jazz.”
Atlantic Monthly
Personnel
Andrew D’Angelo-alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Jeff Lederer- tenor & soprano saxophone, clarinet
Chris Lightcap- acoustic and electric bass
Matt Wilson- drums
In 1996 I started the Matt Wilson Quartet and my dream to have a working jazz band has been realized. Since that time we have delighted audiences throughout the world with our acclaimed recordings and exciting live performances. The guys in the band are not only extraordinary musicians but wonderful human beings who love to have a good time! They bring the music I compose and gather to life and make every performance memorable!
In our travels around the US, Europe and Australia*, we have played many nights of thrilling music, made a lot of friends, shared delicious food and drink, and have seen some breathtaking sights. We have also had the opportunity to expose thousands of students to improvisational music with our innovative educational workshops. We love interacting with the students and are looking forward to playing our MWQ plus big band charts more in the future.(they rock, the kids’ll love ‘em!)
This Matt Wilson Quartet is dedicated to bringing the music to the people. We perform music that is not afraid to challenge AND entertain. We have fun and so will you!
the dudes in the band!
andrew d’angelo i have known since my boston days and he is a renaissance dude. not only a marvelous saxophonist, he composes, arranges, paints, makes lamps, and is a computer wiz.(“I’ll never have a computer” Andrew once told me though in 1995.) andrew is from seattle and co-founded the band human feel. he also plays with reid andersen and leads his own incredible bands. we also have a fun duo project together called ez pass where we use some electronics. his, of course, are sophisticated. myself i use a boombox and an old drum machine! Andrew is also a dedicated music educator who can really get students motivated!
yosuke inoue is one of the most accomplished musicians I have ever encountered. he is so often such a crowd favorite I feel it is his band. in addition to the mwq, he keeps busy playing with several musicians including abraham burton and performing often in his native japan where he is a renown native son. yosuke has made some impressive records of his own and is also doing some producing. yosuke is a huge KISS and QUEEN fan and almost burned down his high school band room playing with a KISS imitator band. he drives a ’97 mercury sable wagon.
jeff lederer was born and raised in los angeles california where he became serious saxophonist after realizing that surfing was a hard way to make a living. i first played with jeff with a band he and his wife, vocalist mary larose, co-lead call ledhead. (check out a cool record we did on GM called walking woman). jeff is a brilliant arranger in addition to his woodwind wizardry. i call him the avant garde nelson riddle. he also plays with latin jazz trombonist jimmy bosch. jeff frequently performs in bowling shoes once owned by joey heatherton and once met charlie chaplin when he was a kid.
*where we’ve hung
festivals
* Monterey Jazz Festival, JVC New York Jazz Festival, Molde Norway Jazz Festival, Stockholm Jazz Festival, Pori Jazz Festival, Melbourne Australia Jazz Festival, Braga Portugal Jazz Festival, Faro Portugal Jazz Festival, Litchfield Jazz Festival, Rochester Jazz Festival, Iowa City Jazz Festival, International Association of Jazz Educators Convention, Wichita Jazz Festival, Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival, Tall Corn Jazz Festival, Lawrence University Jazz Festival
countries where we have played
* Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Australia
states we have invaded
* New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, California and Utah.
Come Check out the Matt Wilson Quartet
Either I have forgotten to update my gigs, or I don't have anything currently scheduled. Check out the schedule page for all of my upcoming gigaroos!
Audio Clips
Listen to Raga, from Humidity
Listen to Thank you Billy Higgins, from Humidity
Listen to Making Babies, from Smile!
Listen to Go Team Go!, from Smile!
Listen to Chit-Chatting, from Going Once, Going Twice
Listen to Schoolboy Thug, from Going Once, Going Twice
Recent Press Propaganda
jazzweekly.com Review of Humidity
Posted: Fri, May 17, 2002
By Ken Waxman
After a while, it’s embarrassing to keep repeating it, but Matt Wilson has emerged as one of the most accomplished—if not the most accomplished—inside/outside drummer of the 21st century.
Wilson, whose inside credentials include membership in mainstream pianist Bill Mays’ trio, and whose outside work includes being a part of the experimental Jazz Composers’ Collective, demonstrates once again on his own discs that he can switch effortlessly from the cerebral to the demonstrative. Humidity provides 12 sizzling examples of this.
Appropriately enough, he begins this CD with a …
Citypages.com Review of Going Once, Going Twice
Posted: Wed, May 27, 1998
BECAUSE THERE ARE so many mediocre instrumentalists out there blowing “new music” (whatever that is) out of their “avant-garde” asses, it’s hard not to be suspicious of an up-and-comer who’s already been tied to an “anti-traditionalist” shtick. But 33-year-old drummer Matt Wilson--not to be confused with the Minneapolis-based Shakespeare-ian vocalist--is one of those rare cats who has the chops to patent a brand of lighthearted irreverence without sounding like a pretender. On Going Once, Going Twice he combines the cadences of early-century swing with a kind of funked-up, free-formed R&B (think Odean …
