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Matt Lavelle

Trumpet Rising Alto Clarinet moon!

About Me

Trumpet and Alto Clarinet player, composer and musical storyteller Matt Lavelle is a key member of the downtown music community in NYC. Playing Jazz in NYC since 1993, Lavelle has toured Europe 6 times to date. He began his music career with Hildred Humphries, a swing era veteran who played with Count Basie and Billie Holiday. In 2005 Lavelle began study with jazz legend Ornette Coleman, which had a huge transformational impact on him and led to his adding the alto clarinet as another powerful voice. Lavelle was also instrumental in the recent resurgence of Jazz man Giuseppi Logan, an underground legend of the ‘60's who had been missing for over 30 years, playing on and producing his comeback record.

Lavelle has played and collaborated with Ornette Coleman, William Parker, Warren Smith, Henry Grimes, Eric Mingus, Sabir Mateen, Roy Campbell, Daniel Carter, Jemeel Moondoc, Mat Maneri, Ras Moshe, Hilliard Greene, Steve Swell, Matana Roberts, Bern Nix, Charles Downs, Francois Grillot, Giuseppi Logan, William Hooker and many others.

With over 15 appearances as a sideman on record, Lavelle has also released five records as a leader: Handling the Moment (2002),Trumpet Rising, Bass Clarinet Moon (2004), Spiritual Power (2006), Manifestation Drama (2009), and Goodbye New York, Hello World(2011) . In addition, Lavelle is a prolific blogger and writer. He published his first book, New York City Subway Drama and Beyond in 2011. Most recently, in 2013 Lavelle published a second book called The Jazz Musician's Tarot Deck. He is also the author of the blog That Fat E-flat feels Mahogany to me. Lavelle co-leads the duo Harmelodic Monk, and leads the 12 Houses orchestra.

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