Artist description One of New York City's most popular young pianists, Matt Ray took the world by storm with his debut CD We Got It! The recording climbed all the way to #12 on the jazz radio charts and cemented him as one of jazz music's rising young stars. The CD is available at all major record stores, both online and in your neighborhood.

Music Style Bebop/Soul-jazz

Artist History http://www233.pair.com/mattray/bio.htm

Instruments piano

Albums We Got It!

Press Reviews "Smart men make smart moves. Smart musicians make smart music. Matt Ray is one such musician. Split down the middle between original compositions and covers, Matt Ray's We Got It! moves like a time traveling machine, bouncing back and forth betwixt modern day musicianship and past musical greatness. Strikingly, Ray's own pieces don't vary much from those of the late greats, and if one wasn't familiar with the classic tunes he would be duped into believing that Ray had written the timeless gems himself. Maybe it's the sequencing...whatever the case the man flows, seemingly allowing his piano to play itself, to forge its own way as he and his band members react to what the instrument delivers. Even when transforming Stevie Wonder's 'Happier than the Morning Sun' into a jazz jewel he opts to let the song mutate itself, riding shotgun as it weaves its way through the avenues of sound. And his excellent phrasing and conscientious use of time are thoroughly matched by his attention to melody. We Got It! That they do. And from the sound of things Matt Ray and his band plan on keeping it. Show 'em some love and pick up their new CD." -- D.J.M., Rapport Magazine *************************************************************************** "Pianist/composer Matt Ray, who's been heard accompanying formidable saxophonist Mike Lee, makes an auspicious debut as a leader with We Got It! a savvy, swinging set of originals and standards. In a trio setting, Ray glowingly explores the heartbreaking changes of the Duke Ellington-Billy Strayhorn melody 'The Star-Crossed Lovers,' and intrepidly traces the bop-era Miles Davis theme 'Sippin' At Bells,' his solo a restless pastiche of well-wrought phrases. Trio version of Ray's own compositions include the playfully surging, delightfully sonorous 'Not Long Now,' and the funky soul-jazz of 'We Got It!,' which -- with the prominent bass work of Whitaker -- recalls the perfect, compact grooves of Ray Brown (whom Hutchinson has often accompanied). Augmented by the horns, Ray leads the quintet through the elegantly-sculpted, teasingly funky melody of 'Fish Night,' as well as the smoothly propulsive, sweetly ascendant 'Vista.' A pianist still in his 20s, Matt Ray has made abundantly clear on this premier recording that whatever 'it' is, it's something he's Got." -- Drew Wheeler, CDNOW Senior Editor, Jazz

Location Brooklyn, NY - USA

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