Mat Muntz is a composer, bassist, and improviser based in Brooklyn, NY. Mat’s work encompasses a wide range of musical idioms, from jazz and avant-garde improvisation to traditional music from India, East Asia, and the Balkans. He graduated from Manhattan School of Music in 2016 and has performed across North America, Europe, and China, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Jazz Standard, Blue Note Beijing, and the Umbria Jazz Festival. His compositions have been premiered at The Shed and the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival in New York. A central aspect of Mat’s practice is the integration of traditional, experimental, and improvisational forms - most actively explored in his work with the collaborative ensemble The Vex Collection. Co-led with composer and percussionist Vicente Hansen, the ensemble has been commissioned by The Shed and Brooklyn Arts Council, and features traditional Korean, Scottish, and Croatian double-reeds alongside newly developed experimental wind instruments. In addition to double bass, Mat has studied primorski meh - a traditional Croatian bagpipe. Since 2019, Mat has been working to develop a new technical vocabulary for this instrument in order to draw on the full range of its unique pitch and timbral characteristics.
In improvised music, the smallest moments can make or break an entire piece. Whether a satisfying payoff that legitimizes a meandering, ponderous development or a slight misstep that shatters an immaculately constructed soundscape, a few seconds of music is often all it takes to define the listening experience as a whole. On the newly released Brisk
One of the things I’ve always admired about alto saxophonist Tim Berne is his ability to always seem ahead of the curve. I remember first checking out his early discography, hearing compositions that resembled things I may have heard from a group at I-Beam the night before, then checking the liner notes and realizing that
