Music News

Coming Up…

Here’s a quick look ahead at what’s coming up on my schedule.

• Thu

  23

  Jan

  2020

  Western Jazz Collective

  7-10pm

  Union Cabaret
  Kalamazoo, MI

  The jazz faculty ensemble at Western Michigan University.

  Scott Cowan (trumpet), Andrew Rathbun (sax), Greg Jasperse (voice), Matthew Fries (piano), Matt Landon (guitar), John Hébert (bass) & Keith Hall (drums)

• Thu

  13

  Feb

  2020

  Fri

  14

  Feb

  2020

  with Curtis Stigers

  Aspen, CO

  Curtis Stigers – vocals/sax
  Matthew Fries – piano
  Cliff Schmitt – bass
  Paul Wells – drums

• Sun

  16

  Feb

  2020

  with Curtis Stigers

  Egyptian Theatre
  Boise, ID

  Curtis Stigers – vocals/sax
  Matthew Fries – piano
  Cliff Schmitt – bass
  Paul Wells – drums

• Mon

  04

  May

  2020

  TRI-FI at Gilmore Keyboard Festival

  noon

  Jazz at Noon
  W. K. Kellogg Foundation
  Battle Creek, MI

  

  Matthew Fries – piano
  Phil Palombi – bass
  Keith Hall – drums

  Tickets and Information

• Wed

  06

  May

  2020

  TRI-FI at Gilmore Keyboard Festival

  noon

  Jazz at Noon
  Civic Auditorium
  Kalamazoo, MI

  

  Matthew Fries – piano
  Phil Palombi – bass
  Keith Hall – drums

  Tickets and Information

On Tour with Curtis Stigers

I’ll be on the road for a few weeks this fall with Curtis Stigers. We’ve got gigs coming up in Seattle, Boise, Holland, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and France.

Check out my online schedule for more information.

Heading to Denmark with TRI-FI

I’m off to Denmark next weekend with my trio, TRI-FI. We’ve been invited to perform at the European Double-Bass Convention. In addition to our performance at the festival we will be playing a few other fun shows while we’re there:

• Jazz Club Dexter in Odense (Thurs 16 Aug)
• A couple after-hours concerts at Jazz House in Copenhagen (Fri/Sat 17-18 Aug)
• Master-class for Jazz Denmark (Sat 18 Aug)

I’m very excited to be heading to Europe with this trio for the first time! And I’m looking forward to sharing our original music with a few new audiences.

My Favorite Quote from a Review Ever

The Guardian in England just gave a nice review of a performance I did with Curtis Stigers. In it John Fordham offers one of the best pull-quotes I’ve ever been able to share.

“Stigers’s backing musicians looked like a convention of accountants, but they delivered a blues and mainstream-swing accompaniment with engaging zest…”

The full review is available online here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jul/01/curtis-stigers-review

Nice Review by Chicago Jazz Music Examiner

Neil Tesser has said some nice things about me before in reviews of my work with Curtis Stigers, and even the occasional nice thing to me face to face (you know that’s a joke if you’ve ever met him). In his list of Yuletide Jazz CDs he includes A TRI-FI Christmas and has this to say:

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All About Jazz Loves A TRI-FI Christmas

Mark Corroto over at All About Jazz gave A TRI-FI Christmas a glowing review saying it just might be “this year’s finest jazz Christmas offering.” Thanks for listening and for all the nice words. Just what I need to put me in the holiday spirit! Now where’s my eggnog?

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DownBeat Holiday Music Roundup

The folks at DownBeat were nice enough to include the new TRI-FI Christmas CD in their Holiday Music Roundup. They even had some nice words about us:

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Look! It’s A Tri-Fi Christmas!

Last summer I got together with my TRI-FI bandmates, Keith Hall and Phil Palombi, and we thought, “Wow, this hot weather makes me wish it was Christmas. We should record a Christmas album!” And that’s exactly what we did.

So, we set up a Kickstarter Fundraising Drive (check out the goofy video we made) and about 120 amazing people agreed that it was a good idea – they jumped in, pre-ordered the album for themselves and their friends, and the next thing you know we were able to pay for the recording and production process. We had a blast recording the 12 holiday classics and I hope you’ll take a moment to check it out.

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