TURNER, MATT

Composer, cellist and pianist Matt Turner completed his undergraduate studies at Lawrence University and his Master of Music degree in Third Stream Studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with David Holland, Geri Allen, and Joe Maneri.

He has played at numerous music festivals including the International Cello Festival in Montreal and the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival and has performed with CUBE, Present Music, John Butcher, Randy Sabian, and Gerry Hemingway. He taught at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music as a lecturer in jazz studies from 1993-1996. He is featured on thirty recordings with such artists as Marilyn Crispell, Joseph Jarman, Jeff Song, Scott Fields, and John Harmon and future releases will feature him with Hal Rammel, Myra Melford, and Francois Houle. Turner is a Yamaha Performing Artist and currently performs and records with Bill Carrothers' Armistice 1918 ensemble and with the Fantastic Merlins.

Strings Magazine says, "Turner dazzles with his own improvisational excursions and displays his expansive cello vocabulary." JAZZIZ Magazine describes his cello playing as "rich-toned and inventive." Equally adept as a pianist, Turner performs everything from jazz standards and twentieth century new music to alternative rock and improvised avant-garde.