…Arts and Crafts should be on that short list of jazz albums you need…even if – perhaps especially if – you’re not a hopeless fanatic about jazz. And why is that? Because this album succeeds on just about any level you can name.
Birmingham Black & White City Paper

Besides being a great drummer and a promising composer, Matt Wilson knows how to lead a band.
Boston Globe

As wacky as he is smart, Wilson brings some needed fun to the new-jazz scene..
The New Yorker

He is a veritable singer on the traps; always musical, always supportive, forever dialogic..
Jazz Times


“A band like this allows the music to go places and courageously goes along for the ride. While the destinations are of importance, how we get there is often what’s most rewarding. Smooth roads, bumpy roads, beautiful landscapes, weird detours and nice surprises all combine here for THE SCENIC ROUTE. We hope you enjoy the journey!” Matt comments about the recording.

Matt contributes four unique tunes including “The Scenic Route,” “25 Years of Rootabagas,” “Feel the Sway,” and “In Touch with Dewey.”


Also included are Ornette Coleman’s “Rejoicing,” Bobby Hutcherson’s “Little B’s Poem,” Pat Metheny’s “The Bat,” Thelonious Monk’s “We See,” Donald Ayler’s “Our Prayer” which is blended with John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” and a swinging version of “Tenderly.”


This recording is dedicated to the memory of saxophonist Dewey Redman
(May 17, 1931 – September 2, 2006)


Matt played with Dewey from 1994 to his passing, which happened just prior to the making of the album. Matt remembers Dewey fondly: “Dewey was a special musician whose sound and openness to all kinds of music made playing with him a treat. He was an incredible man and I loved him dearly.”

One of the most versatile and touted drummers in jazz, Matt Wilson is known for mixing things up and infusing his music with intelligence, humor and non-stop energy. A favorite of the college/progressive music crowd, he raps, recites Carl Sandburg’s poetry to his music and is known to wear wigs from time to time. Wilson can play one night with Ohad Talmor’s out MOB Trio and then keep rhythm the next for straight-ahead pianist, Bill Mays.

A composer, bandleader and an educator, Wilson’s versatility extends to his own bands. His last CD, Humidity, featured his most well-known group, the Matt Wilson Quartet, a formation of two saxophones, bass and drum. The CD was universally praised by NPR’s “Fresh Air,” The New Yorker Magazine and other prominent national outlets.


ABOUT THE ARTIST
One of the finest drummers in jazz, Wilson was recently nominated by the Jazz Journalists Association as Drummer of the Year after winning that award in 2003. For the second consecutive year, he was voted Rising Star Drummer of the Year in Downbeat’s 2004 Critics Poll and was also selected in these other poll categories – Drums, Rising Star Jazz Artist, Rising Star Composer and Rising Star Acoustic Jazz Group (for his Matt Wilson Quartet). Modern Drummer Magazine put him at #5 in their 2004 readers poll for best mainstream jazz drummer. He was awarded a New Works grant from Chamber Music America (funded by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation), which he is using to complete a large body of works he has been composing based on Carl Sandburg’s poetry. Sandburg, like Wilson, hails from Knoxville, Illinois.

After Wilson left Knoxville, he majored in percussion studies at Wichita State University. He began establishing a national reputation after moving to Boston, where he worked with the Either/Orchestra and the Charlie Kohlhase Quartet. From there, Wilson moved on to New York City and quickly became part of the storied Downtown avant-garde music scene. Wilson began working often with Dewey Redman and bassist Cecil McBee and was very much in demand as a session player.

As part of the lauded Jazz Composers Collective, Wilson works often with Ted Nash, Ben Allison, Frank Kimbrough and is featured every spring at the annual Collective festival at New York’s Jazz Standard club. In addition, Wilson has worked with Andrew Hill, Jane Ira Bloom, Ray Anderson, Buster Williams and The Herbie Nichols Project (a Collective project). Wilson regularly plays in the bands of pianists Bill Mays, Frank Kimbrough, Dena DeRose and Denny Zeitlin and is featured now on separate tours of two legends - bassist Charlie Haden and saxophonist Lee Konitz. Wilson can also be heard on current recordings by Fred Hess, Ron Horton, Mario Pavone, Helio Alves, Denny Zeitlin, Yoko Miura and Eric Comstock among others.

An active music educator, Wilson is a popular clinician for Zildjian cymbals and Pearl Drums and periodically writes for Modern Drummer magazine.