Matt Kane Music

Matt's Story

An early memory of music is hearing the song “Magic” by Pilot, on the radio in 1974 when I was three. Mom brought home the 45 record of the song and I played it over and over, trying to figure out the words and sounds coming from the grooves on the spinning platter. After that it was record mania, I sat in a circle of my parents 45s experimenting with the speeds on the turntable and being fascinated with the world inside the vinyl.

Anytime I saw a drumkit or a drummer at a county fair or a drumline in a marching band, I was drawn to the majesty of a drum, the power of it to be so strong that you could feel it inside, the rhythmical vortex they could create. After a visit to my Uncle Bob’s in Florida where I discovered the bongos, he sent me a full drum kit, and there at age six I started my journey of playing with records, learning rudiments and picking apart the secrets of what I heard between those grooves.

At fifteen I did my first professional gigs with a country rock band around my hometown of Hannibal, Missouri and have been making my way through life that way ever since. During the high school years I went through a progression that eventually led me to jazz, playing in the school big band and eventually getting a scholarship to the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory of Music which bailed me out of Hannibal and into the tradition of KC jazz.

My first two years in KC were spent studying, woodshedding and gigging. I played with blues singer Lori Tucker and learned the KC style of blues shuffling along with the foundational beats of R&B. In 1991 I started get some jazz gigs with some guys from UMKC, we played at a club called Milton's for a summer and it was the first time I felt that maybe I could actually play jazz. That same summer I met Doug Funston and Michael Bowers, two conservatory students who had an alt/rock band called "The Plant". They had written some of the coolest music I'd ever had a chance to play and it was the first time I'd experienced playing with guys my own age, making music for people our own age, so I joined them right away.

Between 1991 and 1993 I played KC jazz gigs, went to school and recorded an great album with The Plant. The album remained in the can while the City Spark record label never released it. I made a decision not to leave my career to luck and focused on jazz. Between then and 1997 I went headfirst into the jazz scene playing with Ida McBeth, Ahmad Alaadeen, Bob Bowman's Interstring, Sons of Brazil, McFadden Brothers, Joe Cartwright, Paul Smith, Wayne Hawkins, Russ Long, Karrin Allyson, Angela Hagenbach, Boulevard Big Band, Trilogy Big band, New Vintage Big Band, Jake Blanton, Gerald Dunn, Queen Bey, Daahoud Willams, Rod Fleeman, Danny Embrey, Mike Metheny, Bob Bowman, Gerald Spaits and others.

As much as I enjoyed being a sideman, honored to play with so many of KC’s treasures, I always wanted to play a hard-bop style of jazz and did that with my own group which eventually became known as the best young jazz quartet of KC.

As good as it was getting in KC, New York was always in mind. So, before things got too good, I packed up my station wagon and headed out. After the first traumatic year, I managed to get into the New School jazz program where I studied with Carl Allen, Billy Hart and Adam Nussbaum. Gigs were few and far between for a while so I studied guitar on the side and wrote tunes to keep inspired musically.

In New York I finally got a chance to hear musicians from Brazil and I was knocked out. I had always loved their music, but hearing it live was a revelation and I went to hear all the great brazilian musicians in the city to pick up on their rhythms. After a semester in the New School’s Hermeto Pascoal ensemble I started getting a few brazilian gigs and played with Jovino Santos Neto who told me to learn the patterns, and then forget them and just play. I've also played with Itaiguara Brandao, Nanny Assis, Bina Coquet, Cidinho Teixeira, Analu, Marianni, Marco Figueira and others.

Now, after 11 years of NYC life, I am playing more than I ever have in my life and enjoying it more, too. In a month I might play with several different bands of all kinds of music: brazilian, R&B, jazz, hip-hop, country or rock n’ roll, and I approach each situation with as a chance to learn and spread positive energy. I just like to play with people who are serious about what they do, good at it, but know how to have a good time or "serious fun". I’ve ended up playing a lot of danceable music, because I love to watch people move to rhythm. It feeds energy back to the band and we give it back, I love that interaction. I believe that music is just as much for the body as it is for the brain. Musicians get together for peace and to spread that message. That’s really what I’m about.