Calendar Archive

CMIX Launch Event: Western Jazz Collective

The Western Jazz Collective (Faculty Ensemble at Western Michigan University) presents a set of original modern jazz to celebrate the launch of WMU’s new Center for Contemporary Music, Improvisation, and eXperimentation. CMIX serves as a hub for the creation and presentation of contemporary music in various genres within the College of Fine Arts and beyond. 

Also on the program: Nodes, which features WMU jazz faculty and electronic music composer Christopher Biggs, will present a mini-set of jazz with live electronics processing. This is going to be really cool!

with Jenna Mammina at Sounds of the Zoo Festival

Jenna Mammina – vocals
Matthew Fries – piano
Carlo De Rosa – bass
Keith Hall – drums

Matthew Fries & Pamela York – piano duo concert

Pamela and I were in school together and used to play together all the time, while we were both studying with the great Donald Brown. We’re recreating that fun with a concert on two big Steinways at Western Michigan University.

with Fred Knapp Trio

with Josiah DeNooyer Trio

Matthew Fries Trio – Society for History and Racial Equity Fundraiser

We’re performing at an outdoor gala for SHARE (the Society for History and Racial Equity). It’s their “taste of jazz” fundraiser event.

Matthew Fries – piano
Carlo De Rosa – bass
Keith Hall – drums

Matthew Fries Trio

We’re returning to our favorite listening room in the Midwest for a night of jazz piano trio music. Look for set of my originals plus some arrangements of jazz standards and tunes by some of my heroes.

Matthew Fries – piano
Carlo De Rosa – bass
Keith Hall – drums

with Curtis Stigers

Outdoor concert at the beautiful Idaho Shakespeare Festival.

with Andrew Rathbun Quartet – Beer Garden Show at Bells

Join us in the beer garden for some new music from Andrew.

Andrew Rathbun – tenor sax
Matthew Fries – electric piano
Carlo De Rosa – bass
Keith Hall – drums

MF Quartet at the Stowe Jazz Festival

The quartet will be hosting a jam session at the festival on Friday and Saturday nights, then performing a set on the main stage on Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm.

Matthew Fries – piano
Andrew Rathbun – saxophone
Carlo DeRosa – bass
Keith Hall – drums

Solo Piano Performance – Inspired by Surrealism

The Flint Institute of Arts has a wonderful exhibition of surrealist artists called Beyond Dreams: Surrealism and Its Manifestations. Well-known artists like Salvador Dalí, Joan Miro, and Leonora Carrington, as well as contemporary artists like Kenny Scharf, Sergei Isupov, and Peter Milton. I’ll be doing a solo piano performance and discussing connections and similarities between the surrealist art movement and the development of jazz improvisation.

with Carlo DeRosa Trio

with New York Voices

Two-piano Duo with Cliff Monear

Join us for a concert of two-piano jazz on a couple gorgeous instruments! Lots of fun and improvisation is planned.

with Fred Knapp Trio