| Matt T Mahony (Mattias De Rijcke, °1984, Ghent), is becoming part of a next generation of guitar players who aren’t afraid of playing outside “the box”. In his compositions we hear many different influences, going from old traditional jazz and blues players to more recent musicians who cross boundaries on different levels. Matt T started playing guitar quite late, when he was fifteen years old. Ten years later, after finishing his degree in Moral Philosophy at Ghent University, he started studying jazz guitar at the conservatory in Ghent and also at Prins Claus Conservatory in Groningen (Nl). Although jazz became his main object, blues was and still is his first love. Matt attended lots of blues and jazz sessions with great musicians from Ghent to Groningen to New York. Thanks to musicians as Guy Verlinde and Tiny legs Tim, who organized sessions every month, the blues scene started flourishing in Ghent. With the rise of a growing scene, a blues and roots club was needed. And it came in the city centre of Ghent: the Missy Sippy. Every first sunday Matt T organizes the sunday sessions at this place. A top notch session everytime with different guests. Definitely worth visiting! | It was also at the jam sessions that Matt and harmonicaplayer Olivier Vander Bauwede got acquainted and started to play together; as an acoustic duo but also in an electric band with Mattias Geernaert on bass and Jan Van Steenbrugge on drums. A rhythm section Matt got to know in the jazz scene. The different backgrounds of these musicians make way for an innovative trip of improvisation and groove through the landscape of different styles such as blues, jazz, rock and beyond. A good example of which we can find in the recording of the ep 'live at Missy Sippy'. Since spring 2018 Matt is also guitarist in the Steven Troch Band. Steven Troch is known as one of the best harmonicaplayers around with an outstanding voice and ability to write clever and original tunes. |