MATT JENSON IS...
Growing up in rural New Hampshire injected Matt with a deep spiritual connection
communicated by the simplicity, beauty and truth of nature. As a child he had the
opportunity to visit extended family in Boston and with that cultural exposure, he fell in
love with the musical styles of the African diaspora: Jazz, Blues, Funk, Reggae & Afro-
Latin Music. Later as a young man with a penchant for seeking the deeper
understanding of life, he became extremely interested in the socio-political-economic
and psychological-emotional conditions of human kind. This, combined with his intense
creative drive, provides the bedrock for nearly all of Matt’s artistic output as a talented
keyboardist, singer, composer, arranger, educator and producer.
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Just before the turn of the century, Matt completed a masters degree in Jazz studies at
the New England Conservatory of Music where he studied with (the late) Geri Allen,
Dave Holland and Ran Blake, and then began his professional career playing
keyboards in the various Boston jazz and blues music scenes. Quickly noticed for his
groove and ability to get funky as well as for his arranging chops, Matt headed to the
bandstand most notably with the great blues guitarist Ronnie Earl. After making his
mark on that scene, the maestro of New Orleans soul, singer Johnny Adams came
knocking and Matt found himself playing sold out houses in the US and Europe. The
double barreled Blues and Soul Ph.D. he got from those as well as his work with Mighty
Sam McClain, Cyril Lance, Julien Kasper and Johnny Neel, allowed Jenson to settle
back in Boston and flush out some ideas he'd been having regarding his attraction to
Caribbean music, especially his simmering love for Bob Marley and an equally intense
attraction to Afro-Cuban music. The universe came with an answer to Matt’s musical
loves and almost simultaneously he had the opportunity to study piano with his idol,
the iconic Latin piano player Eddie Palmieri and to plumb the depths of Bob Marley’s
life and music.
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In regards to the latter, Matt joined the piano faculty at Berklee College of Music (2001) and created a smash hit performance studies class entitled, “The Music and Life of Bob Marley.” Each semester he directs a select ensemble of 13 talented young musicians and teaches them about the socio-policital circumstances around Bob’s life and the music he and his musicians created in that intense creative cauldron. The ensemble has performed at nearly every major performance venue in Boston, at reggae festivals in Canada, Vermont, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Matt constantly engages his students to understand the powerful connection music has to social justice movements and to challenge them to tackle current issues using Marley’s experience as inspiration. This class has given Matt many opportunities to deepen his overstanding of Marley’s life and music, including numerous trips to Jamaica where he has connected with many who were in Marley’s inner circle. Most notably Matt has performed with Judy Mowatt and worked with Rita Marley taking part in the “Africa Unite” event in Ghana, West Africa in 2006. He has also taught the class at the amazing Jazz Camp West in Half Moon Bay, California, at the Steel Grass Ranch in Kauai'i and online.
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More recently Matt teamed up with his long time bredren and master Jamaican percussionist, Maroghini, to lead a yearly, week-long experiential trip to Jamaica called Inside Reggae. Matt also produced the viral educational youtube video with Tuff Lion entitled "the art of playing reggae guitar" which forms the inspiration for his soon to be launched online reggae educational platform THE ART OF REGGAE which will present a series of videos explaining in depth how to play this music correctly for drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and percussion.
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Matt is an inspired music educator who has developed very creative and concise methods to teach blues, jazz, pop, rock, funk, country, singer/songwriter and R&B influenced piano, Hammond organ and keyboards. He is a master at teaching improvisation, theory, composition and arranging.
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As a musical artist, Matt is a multi/culti/genre musician with unbridled passion and drive to positively transform humanity, just as he himself has been transformed by the music, humanity and socio-political message of his own mentors. His original compositions, arrangements and lyrics appear in his collaborative work with the band Rebel Tumbao that organically and soulfully merges roots Reggae with Afro-Cuban style…and include some KILLER Latin arrangements of Bob Marley’s music! Matt’s contribution to reggae’s long mission of revolutionary consciousness-raising, lies with his band LIQUID REVOLUTION expressing the cry of alternative global thinking in this era of climate change, extreme economic injustice and the Black Lives Matter movement. Not only do Matt’s poetically insightful songs strike at the heart of these issues, but his tunes about joyful expressions of love, spirituality and the lessons to be learned from simple stories of every day life all offer a vision for a bright future.
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Most recently Matt has had the honor to occupy the lead keyboard chair, on Hammond organ, clavinet and Moog with the internationally renowned San Francisco Bay Area Reggae-Jazz fusion band, GROUNDATION. Matt has contributed string trio and horn arrangements , as well as playing most of the keyboard parts on the band's 10th album, ONE ROCK, released May 13, 2022. Check out the first single released from the album: Original Riddim. 2022 saw Matt on tour with the band in Brazil, Hawaii, California and for two 5-week tours of Europe.
On the lighter side, Matt’s local party band Combo Sabroso (Los 4, the smaller version) has been delighting audiences with creative, fun and extremely grooving covers in the Latin and Reggae styles for a couple of decades!
