Matt Appears on WCPN, Cleveland, OH

May 5, 2004

On May 5, 2004, Matt took his whole family to Cleveland, Ohio for a few solo gigs he was doing.  He played for 850 people at the Alzheimer’s Association “Celebration of Hope” that week, performed for a local school in Shaker Heights, and visited the studios of WCPN to be interviewed by Bobby Jackson.  Actually, both mom and Matt went to the studios for the interview.

Bobby was as cool as he sounds on radio.  And Matt had a blast.  The neatest part was that Bobby kept trying to “stump” Matt by asking him to improvise pieces and play pieces he had not performed or heard for years.  But the music that came from that show was absolutely phenomenal.  The show was taped, not live, as “Jazz Tracks” normally airs on Friday nights and is re-broadcast Sunday afternoons.  We were busy on that Friday, so we did a taped version.  It didn’t really matter to us, though.  Matt is comfortable playing for 1 person or 10,000 people.  He just loves performing.

Bobby started off by interviewing me (mom) about Matt’s early years.  Then he got Matt involved and playing the piano.  He asked Matt details about how he writes songs, things he likes to do, etc.  It was an interesting interview in addition to being fun.  And, I must admit that I was blown away by Matt’s improvs and his renditions of some old standards.  He played with such creativity and inspiration that it was obvious that the music was all his own.  I don’t think I had heard him in this light before…I mean REALLY heard him completely revamp a standard in his own style.  Most of the time Bobby sat with his mouth open in amazement.  I think I looked like that too!

Here is a photo of Matt with Bobby Jackson at WCPN in Cleveland.  For those of you who get our newsletter, I’ll send you an e-mail when I know the dates/times of broadcast.  The show is WEBCAST in addition to being played on the air.  At some point, I hope to have a link to WCPN (when the show has aired and it is on their web site) so everyone who reads this can hear the interview.  I’m dying to listen to the music Matt played again, so I can’t wait to get a CD of the interview! 

Here’s Bobby-n-Matt…