Born and raised in Sacramento CA, Matt Perrine began his musical career, modestly enough, at the age of 10, playing trombone in his school band. At the age of 11 he began work playing tuba with his first dixieland band. By 12 he had taken up the electric bass, and started writing arrangements for his group. By the ripe old age of 15 he had picked up the acoustic bass and begun composing his own pieces, as well as writing big band arrangements. It wasn't long before his skills and drive brought him work with professionals in the Sacramento area and the opportunity to work with Jessica Williams, Diane Shure, Joey Calderoza, and the Artie Shaw Orchestra.
Matt's move to New Orleans was an obvious choice, steeped as he was in jazz and dixieland. Since his arrival in 1992, he has crossed many musical boundaries. A triple threat, excelling on upright bass, acoustic bass and sousaphone, his reputation as a consummate musician has opened doors into almost every genre in the New Orleans musical arena. On electric bass his prowess extends from rock and roll to reggae to avant-garde and fusion with projects like The Fifth Dimension, Paul Sanchez's Rolling Road Show, Sista Teedy and Cool Riddums, Loose Strings, Aaron and Charles Neville, Jason Marsalis and Neslort. He is a first call jazz player on upright bass, whether it's swing, latin, traditional or be-bop, with world renowned artists like Elis and Branford Marsalis, Lillian and John Boutee, Kermit Ruffins, The Johnny Vidacovich Trio, the Danza Quartet featuring Tom McDermott and Evan Christopher, Henry Butler, and Leigh "Li'l Queenie" Harris.
All these accolades aside, it is on sousaphone where Matt's abilities and imagination soar. Noted as a "virtuoso sousaphone player" by Downbeat magazine, Matt's work on sousaphone has kept him busy, at home and abroad. In 1995 he co-founded The New Orleans Nightcrawlers, acting as tubist, chief composer and arranger, as well as producer of their first eponimously titled recording and co-producer of their third, Live at the Old Point, and their latest release on Threadhead Records, Slither Slice. Combining brass band, jazz and funk elements, the Nightcrawlers have garnered local awards, toured domestic and European festival circuits and produced four recordings which sell internationally. In 1997 Matt brought his talents to the table for the first solo recording by Galactic drummer, Stanton Moore. Joining forces with Stanton and progressive guitarist Charlie Hunter, All Kooked Out is receiving worldwide acclaim and distribution. On the funk front, Matt lends his horn to a longtime musical mainstay of the New Orleans music scene, All That. Acting as the sole bass instrument in a funk / brass-band / hip-hop format, an octave pedal and bass amplifier turn the sousaphone into a sonic atom bomb. Equally comfortable in an acoustic environment, in 1998 Matt began work with trombone legend Ray Anderson, touring the world and recording with "Ray Anderson's Pocket Brass Band" on the Enja label .
The Sydney Morning Herald said this: "It was a revelation that the mighty sousaphone could be played so dexterously. Perrine huffed and puffed great, fat funk lines, slid easily into be-bop walking bass and made solos that could describe yearning as readily as beefy effervescence."
From traditional jazz and dixieland to brass-band to the occasional rock and roll foray, Matt and his tuba have seen work with the likes of OK-Go, The Indigo Girls, New Orleans legend Pete Fountain, Bonerama, Better Than Ezra, Bruce Hornsby, Nicholas Payton and Howard Johnson's tuba ensemble, Gravity.
All of this has not gone unnoticed, either creatively or academically. In the states and abroad, Matt has acted as a teacher, from private to specialized college level classes and clinics. In New Orleans he participates in the Young Audiences Program, bringing special musical presentations to grade-school children in an interactive environment. Before his move to New Orleans he worked in a similar program doing presentations and classes through much of northern California. For 7 years Matt was on staff of the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society Jazz Camp, taking responsibility for private lessons on tuba and bass as well as ensemble lessons in arranging, theory and performance. He's been repeatedly commissioned by Copenhagen's Rhythmik Music Conservatory to give academic and performance clinics on brass band music. He's brought the same program of study to the Conservatory's sister school in Aahus, Denmark as well. On the home front, Matt has also taught in the music studies program at the University of New Orleans under the direction Elis Marsalis and still accommodates private students.
His compositions and arranging accomplishments, while not as high profile as performance credits, are broad and expansive as well. His original compositions can be heard on all four New Orleans Nightcrawlers records, Bringing It Home & Bonerama at the Shreridan Opera House; Bonerama and All Kooked Out; Stanton Moore . His musical arrangements, spanning the gamut from jazz standards to original rock and roll can be heard on: Pledge to my People, -Cool Riddums and Sista Teedy; Jubilee , -Stan Mark; Louisianthology, -Tom McDermott; Club Deuce, -Johnny Angel; The Whop Boom Bam, -All That; ... Now Get Out, -Guitar Vic and the Slicktones; New Orleans Nightcrawlers, Funknicity, Live at the Old Point, Slither Slice -The New Orleans Nightcrawlers; Greyhound Afternoons, - Royal Fingerbowl; Live at the Old Point, Live From New York, Bringing it Home, Bonerama at the Sheridan Opera House -Bonerama
In 2007, Matt released his first solo record, Sunflower City, a celebration of the connection between New Orleans music and the music of the caribbean. Featuring a who's-who of New Orleans finest musicians, it was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Traditional Jazz by Gambit Magazine's Big Easy Awards.
Today Matt plays sousaphone with the New Orleans based band, the Tin Men, with songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Alex McMurray and local phenom "Washboard Chaz" Leary. The Tin Men's first release, "Super great Music for Modern Lovers, was nominated by the Big Easy Awards committee for Album of the Year. Matt's Sunflower City band plays regularly around New Orleans, both privately and publicly. He also continues to play in the New Orleans Nightcrawlers, the Danza Quartet, the Hot Club of New Orleans, Paul Sanchez and many other local bands. Matt's newest project, Woof, is a hybrid of heavy funk and rock and roll and will be appearing in New Orleans nightclubs and watering holes this summer.
www.mattperrine.com
