Matt McMahon
Matt McMahon is a Sydney-based pianist, keyboardist and composer. After studying music and English literature at Sydney University and jazz at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, he has performed and recorded actively since 1993.
He has performed and recorded with many musicians and groups including Dale Barlow, Sandy Evans, Joe Tawadros, Vince Jones, Katie Noonan, Daorum, Baecastuff, Guy Strazz, Steve Hunter, Phil Slater and Jackie Orszaczky, and his compositions appear on many albums. He has also worked with touring artists from the USA, Bobby Previte (1999) and Greg Osby (2006).
He performs in concerts and festivals nationally and internationally with a variety of groups. In Australia he has appeared at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival, Queensland Music Festival, Melbourne International Jazz Festival and Sydney’s Jazznow Festival, and he appears on over forty albums. Matt was the winner of the 1999 National Jazz Award at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and received the $20,000 2005 Freedman Jazz Fellowship. He leads groups under his own name (having recorded two critically acclaimed albums) and co-leads The Band of Five Names, a collaborative ensemble with Phil Slater and Simon Barker.
He teaches in the Jazz faculty at the Sydney Conservatorium, presents a weekly jazz radio programme at Eastside Radio and is a committee member of the JazzGroove Association. On Move he is featured as pianist on The Rose and the Willow (MCD 392) with Christina Leonard, and as pianist, composer and arranger with Elysian Fields on What should I say (MCD 580) and Fika (MCD 603).
Matt McMahon is featured on the following titles
The Rose and the Willow
Saxophone and piano rebuild Piazzolla, Ginastera and Guastavino from bare elements, treating improvisation as equal partner so both instruments share the musical weight.
Performing as Elysian Fields
Elysian Fields, Australia’s only electric viola da gamba ensemble, was formed by Jenny Eriksson, Matt Keegan and Matt McMahon in 2015. The band is an ongoing experiment in new improvised and composed repertoire for the electric viola da gamba, of which Eriksson is believed to be the only Australian exponent.
Fika
Fika is the second album from crossover ensemble Elysian Fields: music shaped for the Swedish custom of gathering with friends over coffee, conversation and something sweet to share.
Arranger
What should I say
Australia’s only electric viola da gamba band, Elysian Fields joins Jenny Eriksson with jazz colleagues Matt Keegan and Matt McMahon in new repertoire that sets Renaissance verse beside contemporary improvisation.
Composer
Matt McMahon is a member of
Elysian Fields
Elysian Fields, Australia’s only electric viola da gamba ensemble, was formed by Jenny Eriksson, Matt Keegan and Matt McMahon in 2015. The band is an ongoing experiment in new improvised and composed repertoire for the electric viola da gamba, of which Eriksson is believed to be the only Australian exponent.