Matt Munisteri Quartet at Birdland Theater

Its a daunting task, this business of encapsulating Matt Munisteris musical self. As the sparkling guitarist on several chart-topping jazz CDs; a critically lauded songwriter and nimble lyricist; an urban banjo-warrior and a sometime session musician; a selfless and devoted sideman; a wry-yet-honest singer; an engaging and winning front-man; and an arranger whose ear-pulling re-inventions of well-traveled songs have contributed to Grammy winning CDs for artists such as Loudon Wainwright and Catherine Russell, Matts various dueling career paths might at first seem difficult to reconcile. Additionally youd be hard-pressed to find another Brooklyn native who grew up playing bluegrass banjo since he was in the single digits; who has recorded with artists as divergent as consummate jazz balladeer Little Jimmy Scott and 1980s avante-noise godfather Glenn Branca; who is regarded as a contemporary master of 1920s and 30s jazz styles, and is an ardent student of American folk traditions, but counts among his regular creative cohorts several musicians associated with the New York Downtown music world...

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Its a daunting task, this business of encapsulating Matt Munisteris musical self. As the sparkling guitarist on several chart-topping jazz CDs; a critically lauded songwriter and nimble lyricist; an urban banjo-warrior and a sometime session musician; a selfless and devoted sideman; a wry-yet-honest singer; an engaging and winning front-man; and an arranger whose ear-pulling re-inventions of well-traveled songs have contributed to Grammy winning CDs for artists such as Loudon Wainwright and Catherine Russell, Matts various dueling career paths might at first seem difficult to reconcile. Additionally youd be hard-pressed to find another Brooklyn native who grew up playing bluegrass banjo since he was in the single digits; who has recorded with artists as divergent as consummate jazz balladeer Little Jimmy Scott and 1980s avante-noise godfather Glenn Branca; who is regarded as a contemporary master of 1920s and 30s jazz styles, and is an ardent student of American folk traditions, but counts among his regular creative cohorts several musicians associated with the New York Downtown music world. Yet ultimately Matts journey through 20th century American music yields a vision which feels intrinsically whole, with his own music always serving as one-of-a-kind reflection of a life immersed in all the far-flung variants of American Popular Song. Maybe its easier to say that whatever hes currently up to, it will be a living reconciliation of rural and urban, long-gone and contemporary, individual experience and canonized scripture.

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