About Matt Munhall:
Matt Munhall, 27, has been a professional musician for the last seven years. With a wide ranging repertoire and a warm expessive voice, he has captivated audiences in a wide variety of circumstances. Primarily a piano player and singer, Matt started his career in Columbus, Ohio, playing places like The Worthington Inn, The Bexley Monk, and Smith and Wolensky. In 2004/2005, he performed on an Air Force base in Germany for six months, on arrival back in the states he recorded his second record (Guinea Pigs on a Scaffold) and headlined his debut concert at The King Arts Complex. He has spent the last few years playing, recording, and writing for a living. Munhall’s followers pack venues such as Dick’s Den and Skully’s in Columbus. In 2007, Munhall put together a cohesive rhythm section that includes Matt Paetsch on bass and Jack Knuttila on Drums. Munhall played The Bitter End in New York in April 2008, in the New York City Songwriters Showcase, and has been traveling in the Midwest with his band. In August 2008, he enrolled at Capital University to study music arranging formally for the first time. With this album, the third full-length original studio recording under his belt, Matt has built a substantial foundation for a career as a recording artist/singer songwriter/producer. Three will open at the newly restored Lincoln Theater July 18th, 2009. Matt owns his own music and is licensed as an artist and publisher affiliate with SESAC Nashville.
He is currently a featured guest on sixteen episodes of a nationally syndicated PBS show called The Piano Guy. The show airs on over 200 stations across the nation. As far as his influences go, they range from folk to classical to blues to jazz to rock to pop. Matt has an inexhaustible dedication to making great art and an emphasis on the honesty that propels his writing. If his work doesn’t meet those standards, he doesn’t use it. He is well aware of his own musical philosophy and how it drives him. He knows, “Good music is ultimately made from the moderation of craftsmanship and creativity.” Visit www.mattmunhall.com
Munhall's influences include.
Beethoven(sonatas), Chopin(preludes), Joplin(rags), Gershwin(standards, orchestral work), Copland (americana folk arrangements for symphony, other modern symphonic works), Johnson(blues innovations), Ellington(pop/jazz standards, big band arrangements), Ella Fitzgerald (phrasing, articulation, personal and emotional ownership in performance of song), Frank and Louis for same reasons, Dave Brubeck (live jazz piano interpretations with trio), the slew of New Orleans piano players of whom James Booker is my personal favorite. Ray Charles.
Then we begin to see the singer songwriter, so here we go.Woody, Chuck Berry, Dylan, Van Morrison, Croce, Chapin, John Paul and George, Elton, James Taylor, Billy Joel, Nick Drake, Tom Waits, Harry Nilsson, RANDY NEWMAN, you get the idea. Bands.The Band, C,S,N, and Young, Queen, Pink Floyd, etc., anyhow a ton of bands from the seventies. The eighties are not my expertise. Moving on.Counting Crows, Wallflowers, Smashing Pumpkins, Tha Black Crows. Ok biggest influences alive and kicking today. Wilco,
Richard Julian, Andrew Bird, Ben Folds, Ryan Adams, Damien Rice, Coldplay, Radiohead, and the band plays on and on and on
