Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Of Matt Richards "...A guitarist whose unique style freely merges many influences, but retains his own identity.... his highly developed improvisational abilities are effortlessly expressed through his virtuoso musical skills." - Events
Of Jim Goodin "His original compositions subtly recall influences such as Will Ackerman and
Ralph Towner, but Goodin is no copycat, finding his own personal harmonic
space in the context of a solo guitar recording." - Guitar9 Records - Guitar9 Records
Three acoustic guitarists - Michael Hewett, Matt Richards, and Jim Goodin - mix both styles and genres and each come up with warm introspective explorations. They're asking you to listen to music you may think of as background filler and put it up front, pay attention, and hear the textures and subtleties. Sans vocals (and other instruments, for that matter), this evening should prove very uplifting for those of you who struggle alone for hours, trying to make those six strings sing." - A. Aber
Discography
Individual recordings include:
Celtic Journey to The Path by Jim Goodin
Through the Door by Jim Goodin
In This Single Moment by Matt Richards and
a new recording soon, Dayside, to be released by Matt Richards.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Join two genre-shaping solo guitarists as they expand and redefine the conceptions of acoustic guitar. From subtle sonic textures to worldly rhythms to multi-string orchestral explorations, these players visit fresh musical landscapes by way of both traditional and innovative techniques.
Matt Richards Biography...
"A guitarist whose unique style freely merges many influences, but retains his own identity.... his highly developed improvisational abilities are effortlessly expressed through his virtuoso musical skills."
When explaining guitarist Matt Richards' solo guitar style, the words jazz, classical, Spanish, modern acoustic and new age are combined in various ways in fact, each term reveals a different aspect of Matt's musical identity.
Growing up in the culturally fertile cross-currents of the 1960s, Matt's musical pathway begins with the mix of folk, rock and psychedelic music that defined that decade. Eventually drawn into the electronic-laden jazz-rock of the 1970s, Matt began developing the technically advanced skill and musical abilities demanded by those styles. As his talent and artistic vision grew, he was inspired to seek out straight-ahead jazz, European classical music and the music of Spain and Latin America.
This broad panorama of influences has matured into Matts singular approach to the guitar, imparting his unique musical signature on both acoustic and electric instruments.
As an acoustic artist, Matt has been featured in the film Smoke And Mirrors and on the Philadelphia-based television series Puerto Rican Panorama. He has played at the CoreStates and Mellon Jazz Festivals, the Naturist Society's Eastern and Midwestern Gatherings, National AIDS Awareness Day, SUNOCO's Welcome America celebrations, the Kimmel Regional Arts Center and numerous clubs and venues. Matt has performed duets with guitarists Larry Coryell, Emiliano Pardo-Tristan and Sam Gorelik, violinist Joyell Washington and bassist Bill Zola, among others. Matt is also a founding member of the all-acoustic Guitar Trio East.
On electric guitar and glissentar (fretless 11-string guitar), Matt is most immediately associated with his own jazz trio -- he has also earned a considerable reputation playing both straight-ahead jazz and contemporary music. As a sideman, Matt is featured on several releases, including gospel vocalist Paul Middleton's Keep The Faith and rock/alternative artist Nate Hawk's Nathaniel Hawk. He has worked with a broad range of artists, including vocalist/composer Essra Mohawk (Change Of Heart), vocalist/bassist Starr Cullars (P-Funk All-Stars), vocalist Julie Holtzman, saxophonists Bobby Zankel and Steve Oliver, pianists John Conahan and Elio Villafranca, organists Joey DeFrancesco and Herbie Nix, drummers Mike Clark (Herbie Hancock), Kenwood Dennard (Sting), Marlon Simon (Hilton Ruiz), Webb Thomas and Adrian Velosin (Bern Nix) and percussionists Pablo Batista (Grover Washington) and Cafe'(Luis Bonfa).
Matt was a founding member of the progressive rock/fusion group New Light, from 1979 through 1984. Appearing frequently with British musical artists such as Soft Machine and National Health, New Light participated in a cultural exchange program between the USA and the USSR in 1980.
An Independence Foundation Fellowship nominee for 2003, Matt is currently Head of Faculty at FrankfordStyle School for Arts & Music and is affiliated with Cheltenham Music & Arts, Asociacion de Musicos Latino Americanos (AMLA) and Spring Lake Farm Arts Camp. In conjunction with his performances, Matt frequently conducts workshops and master classes.
Jim Goodin biography...
"the most moving and melodic guitar playing in recent memory"
Sam Ash® music.
"a master technician" Gig® magazine
You don't realize its power at first. It creeps up on you like a rolling fog on a starless night revealing itself only under the brilliant glow of a midsummer's moon. The subtle complexity of the music woven by acoustic guitar master Jim Goodin lulls you, draws you in and welcomes you to a comfortable, secluded spot. While a sharp ear may spot Ralph Towner's and Michael Hedges' influences in Goodin°s elegant fingerstyle techniques and inspired harmonic textures, reducing Goodin to a simple clone doesn°t do him, or his music, justice. Make no mistake: Goodin's acoustic creations have zest, zeal and originality. Goodin's blend of acoustic Celtic/New Age/world music showcases a percussive attack rife with pull-offs, tantalizing tapping and multi-layered, multi-cultural musical voicings. "The tapping that I do, such as in my recording of The Path from the CD, Celtic Journey To The Path, is done with my left hand performing pull-offs on the high D-string in combination with tapping fretted notes along with the right hand," says Goodin. "You get more sustain with the pull-offs when they are added to the tapping. Many of the greats - Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Stanley Jordan, the late Michael Hedges, and Richar
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