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Matt Shulman

As a trumpeter Matt Shulman boldly pushes through boundaries and challenges our preconceptions of what the instrument should sound like. As a singer-songwriter he wraps us in a lush, dream-like world of loops and existential poetry. As a performer he draws from the emotional pulse of today's popular music and jazz's rich tradition to give us something that never goes out of style: good music.

Hailed by the New York Times as "A new voice from jazz's emerging generation…", by fans as "Miles Davis meets Radiohead...a Chet Baker for the new millennium...", and by Downbeat Magazine as "Zen-like…", Matt combines intimate vocals with virtuosic trumpet playing and sensual electronics to create his signature sound.

The 9 tracks on SO IT GOES, Matt's 1st release with Jaggo Records (official release planned for spring '07), favor an adventurous jazz/alternative feel, ranging from Matt's highly distinctive original material to the standards 'My Funny Valentine' and J.S. Bach's 'Air For The G String'. Combining his musical and life influences with forward-thinking compositions and mind-bending trumpet skills, Matt creates a sound on SO IT GOES that All About Jazz calls "...fresh, innovative…deeply emotional...a jazz group for the 21st Century."

"The emotional content of SO IT GOES has changed for me over time", Matt explains. "When I wrote and recorded the raw tracks I was in a long-term relationship in which being an artist was covertly unacceptable -- but I was in denial of it. Naturally, as I focused more on my music and making the record, the whole thing blew up. The relationship ended, and i finished the record with everything taking on a completely new meaning for me. What's interesting is that a lot of the lyrics sound like they could have been written afterward (lyrics to the title track: "light turns to dark, and you ask me what's what? has this world come to nothing but a show? it's been long since you've seen those better days...so it goes..."). Perhaps something in my intuitive self knew something my logical brain didn't..."

Matt made his Carnegie Hall main stage debut as featured guest soloist with the New York Pops Orchestra in 2002, and was named Jazz Artist of the Year by the 2003 Independent Music Awards, earning him international acclaim for having virtually reinvented the trumpet through his highly expressive sound and pioneering approaches. In addition to his rich trumpet tone and honest vocal delivery, one thing many audiences notice about Matt is his simultaneous use of vocals and electronics with his trumpet, what All About Jazz calls "…an other-worldly sound...on SO IT GOES, Matt Shulman is something of a tour de force…he sings, plays, and uses his voice as a muted horn in a solo and duet with the trumpet..." "I started singing and playing the trumpet simultaneously about a year after I moved to New York", says Matt. "A trombone player friend of mine showed me the (multiphonic) technique, and although not many trumpet players have developed it, I took to it pretty much right away. I use it as a means for delineating harmony within the structure of a song, as opposed to merely as a sound effect. In this way I can play three-note 'chords' and counterpoint on the trumpet, functioning in my trio kind of like a pianist or guitar player does, or even like a solo violinist does -- I grew up listening to my father play a lot of the Bach solo violin repertoire, so that approach is always somewhere in my sound. The electronics entered organically when I started using a stage monitor to amplify the multiphonics in live performance, then eventually added some reverb and delay for ambiance, and a loop pedal for layering."

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The Jazz Session

Matt Shulman: Trumpet And Voice

Read "Matt Shulman: Trumpet And Voice" reviewed by Jason Crane


On the new episode of The Jazz Session, Jason Crane interviews trumpeter and vocalist Matt Shulman about his new album, So It Goes (Jaggo Records, 2007). Shulman sings and plays trumpet, but that's where the Chet Baker comparison ends, although like Baker, Shulman incorporates the hip music of the day into his own work. Skilled at multiphonics -- playing one note while simultaneously singing another -- Shulman is able to expand the range of the trumpet beyond ...

596
Interview

Matt Shulman: The Next Big Thing

Read "Matt Shulman: The Next Big Thing" reviewed by Katrina-Kasey Wheeler


Trumpeter Matt Shulman has been hailed by The New York Times as, “A new voice from jazz's emerging generation. His style is thought by cohorts of fans to be an amalgamation of Miles Davis and Radiohead. He is an up-and-coming virtuoso, comparable to a modern day Chet Baker with a far-seeing vision. Down Beat Magazine has called his signature sound, “Zen-like, a sound which consists of sincere, intimate vocals and ethereal multiphonics. His approach to the trumpet is one of ...

116
Album Review

Matt Shulman: So It Goes

Read "So It Goes" reviewed by Celeste Sunderland


Take a trumpet trio that could have waltzed through the revolving doors of a '50s supper club, add sparse vocals, multiphonics, and lightly perceptible electronics, and you have a jazz group for the 21st Century. Trumpet player Matt Shulman is among a group of young jazz composers who are unafraid to step beyond traditional constraints, still maintaining a strong link to their forebears, and So It Goes breathes freshness. It maintains a stirring alacrity within an aura of plaintive comfort. ...

152
Album Review

Matt Shulman: So It Goes

Read "So It Goes" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins


Matt Shulman's second self-produced CD, So It Goes, is fresh, innovative, and just plain different. With hints of Chris Botti, Miles Davis, and others, the album is a pleasant, perhaps even enchanting, collection of six original tunes and three standards. Shulman, who handles vocals, trumpet and effects--aided by sidemen Matt Clohesy on acoustic bass and Jason Wildman on drums and percussion--delivers an otherwordly sound. Often, the leader combines his voice with that of his trumpet. Shulman started ...

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100

Radio

The Jazz Session #31: Matt Shulman

The Jazz Session #31: Matt Shulman

Source: All About Jazz

On the new episode of The Jazz Session, Jason Crane interviews trumpeter and vocalist Matt Shulman about his new album, So It Goes (Jaggo Records, 2007). Shulman sings and plays trumpet, but that's where the Chet Baker comparison ends, although like Baker, Shulman incorporates the hip music of the day into his own work. Skilled at multiphonics -- playing one note while simultaneously singing another -- Shulman is able to expand the range of the trumpet beyond its normal capacity. ...

91

Interview

Matt Shulman Interviewed at AAJ

Matt Shulman Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

Trumpeter Matt Shulman has been hailed by The New York Times as, “A new voice from jazz's emerging generation." His style is thought by cohorts of fans to be an amalgamation of Miles Davis and Radiohead. He is an up-and-coming virtuoso, comparable to a modern day Chet Baker with a far-seeing vision. Down Beat Magazine has called his signature sound, “Zen-like," a sound which consists of sincere, intimate vocals and ethereal multiphonics. His approach to the trumpet is one of ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

A Book Of Five Rings

Sunjump Records
2008

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So It Goes

Jaggo Records
2007

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So It Goes

Jaggo Records
2005

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