Matthew Warren Flinner
is an American mandolinist,
music transcriber, and ensemble leader.
Mike Marshall has called him "one of the truly great young mandolinists of our generation."
Biography
Early years
Flinner's first musical experiences were in Salt Lake as well. At age 10, his older brother Rex taught him how to play the banjo, and then the mandolin soon after.
They formed the original Matt Flinner Trio, and played bluegrass music for tips.
When his father hosted a bluegrass show on KRCL-FM in Salt Lake City, Flinner assisted in music selection.
At age 12, Flinner joined the Peewee Pickers, who play bluegrass festivals and watched heroes perform, including the
Osborne Brothers
The Osborne Brothers, Sonny (October 29, 1937 – October 24, 2021) and Bobby (December 7, 1931 – June 27, 2023), were an influential and popular bluegrass act during the 1960s and 1970s and until Sonny retired in 2005. They are probably ...
,
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Edmund Stanley (February 25, 1927 – June 23, 2016) was an American bluegrass artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing. He began playing music in 1946, originally with his older brother Carter Stanley as part of The ...
,
The Country Gentlemen
The Country Gentlemen was a progressive bluegrass band that originated during the 1950s in the area of Washington, D.C., United States, and recorded and toured with various members until the death in 2004 of Charlie Waller, one of the group's ...
,
J. D. Crowe, and
Doyle Lawson.
Flinner won the Walnut Valley National Championship in
Winfield, Kansas
Winfield is a city and county seat of Cowley County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the Walnut River in South Central Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,777. It is home to Southwestern College.
...
for bluegrass banjo in 1990
and the following year for mandolin.
Flinner earned a Bachelor of Music degree in composition from University of Utah
, studying with Morris Rosenzweig and performing with the
Utah Symphony
The Utah Symphony is an American orchestra based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The orchestra's principal venue is Abravanel Hall. In addition to its Salt Lake City subscription concerts, the orchestra travels around the Intermountain West serving ...
.
Sugarbeat
Flinner joined banjoist
Tony Furtado's band Sugarbeat in the early 90s. Sugarbeat also featured lead vocalist and guitarist Ben Demerath (vocals, guitar), and Sally Truitt (bass).
Sugarbeat won first place at the
Telluride Bluegrass Festival
Telluride Bluegrass Festival is an annual music festival in Telluride, Colorado hosted by Planet Bluegrass. Although traditionally the festival focuses on bluegrass music, it often features music from a variety of related genres.
History
The to ...
in 1992.
Modern Mandolin Quartet
Flinner moved to Nashville in 1999, and in 2002 he joined the Modern Mandolin Quartet, a chamber group that uses two mandolins, a
mandola
The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...
, and a
mandocello
The mandocello () is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. Its eight strings are in four paired courses, with the strings in each course tuned in ...
to perform classical and contemporary compositions. With Flinner, they released a re-recorded version of ''The Nutcracker Suite''. Along with Flinner, members include Dana Rath, Paul Binkley, and Adam Roszkiewicz.
In 2013, their album ''Americana'' was nominated for three Grammy awards: Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, Best Engineered Album, and Classical Producer Of The Year.
Matt Flinner Trio
Flinner formed The Matt Flinner Trio in 2006. Besides Flinner, the trio includes Ross Martin (guitar) and Eric Thorin (bass). For their Music du Jour shows, each member of the trio will compose a new song on the night before the performance and perform each new song at the show.
In 2009, their first album ''Music du Jour'' included what they considered to be the best songs composed for the Music du Jour shows.
The trio's 2016 album ''Traveling Roots'' features 12 more songs from the Music du Jour tours: four from each trio member.
Phillips, Grier & Flinner
Todd Phillips
Todd Phillips (born Todd Philip Bunzl; December 19, 1970) is an American filmmaker. Phillips began his career in 1993 and directed films in the 2000s such as ''Road Trip'', '' Old School'', ''Starsky & Hutch'', and '' School for Scoundrels''. ...
,
David Grier, and Matt Flinner perform, record, and tour as a trio. Their first album ''Phillips, Grier & Flinner'' was released in 1999.
On their follow-up ''Looking Back'', the trio cover songs such as
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe ( ; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass".
The genre takes its n ...
's "Tennessee Blues" and "Monroe's Hornpipe,"
Mongo Santamaría
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez (April 7, 1917 – February 1, 2003) was a Cuban percussionist and bandleader who spent most of his career in the United States. Primarily a conga drummer, Santamaría was a leading figure in the pachanga an ...
's "
Afro Blue
"Afro Blue" is a jazz standard composed by Mongo Santamaría.
Santamaria version
Mongo Santamaria recorded his composition "Afro Blue" in 1959 when playing with the Cal Tjader Sextet. The first recorded performance was on April 20, 1959, at ...
," and
McCoy Tyner
Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 to 1965, and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Masters, NEA J ...
's "Search for Peace."
Recordings
Released in 1999, ''The View From Here'' was produced by Todd Phillips (bass) and featured
David Grier (guitar),
Jerry Douglas
Gerald Calvin Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. He is widely regarded as "perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music, and certainly the most celebrated and prol ...
(resonator guitar), and fiddlers
Stuart Duncan
Stuart Ian Duncan (born April 14, 1964) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo.
Life
Duncan was born in Quantico, Virginia, and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school ...
,
Darol Anger
Darol Robert Anger is an American violinist and founding member of The David Grisman Quintet.
Career
Darol Anger entered popular music at the age of 21 as a founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Anger played fiddle to David Grisman' ...
, and
Tim O'Brien.
''Latitude'' in 2001 again included the assistance of Anger, Duncan on fiddle, Douglas, Grier, Phillips.
Matt Flinner Quartet
Flinner plays lead mandolin in his electric rock-influenced band The Matt Flinner Quartet, influenced by
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...
and
John Scofield
John Scofield (born December 26, 1951) is an American guitarist and composer. His music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention as part of the band of Miles Davis; he ...
. The quartet includes Gawain Mathews (guitar), Sam Bevan (bass), and Aaron Johnston (drums).
Other projects
Flinner was a featured soloist with
Trey Anastasio
Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, composer, and singer-songwriter best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 ...
during the Nashville Chamber Orchestra's performance of Don Hart's "Concertino for Strings, Two Mandolins and Guitar" with guitarist Roger Hudson and mandolinist Carlo Aonzo.
When the band
Leftover Salmon
Leftover Salmon is an American jam band from Boulder, Colorado, formed in 1989. The band's music is a blend of bluegrass, rock, country, and Cajun/ Zydeco (Polyethnic Slamgrass). Over their thirty years as a band, Salmon has released seven s ...
lost founding member Mark Vann to cancer in 2002, Flinner played banjo as a substitute until the band was able to reorganize.
Flinner was featured on
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for Steve Martin filmography, his work in comedy films, television, and #Discography, recording, he has received List of awards a ...
's album ''
The Crow
''The Crow'' is a supernatural superhero comic book series created by James O'Barr revolving around the titular character of the same name. The series, which was originally created by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his fianc� ...
'', which won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.
Flinner also occasionally performs and tours with
Darrell Scott
James Darrell Scott (born August 6, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He has written several mainstream country hits, and is well-established as one of Nashville's premier session instrumentalists.
B ...
,
Frank Vignola
Frank Vignola (born December 30, 1965) is an American jazz guitarist. He has played in the genres of swing, fusion, gypsy jazz, classical, and pop.
Career
Vignola grew up on Long Island, New York. His father played accordion and banjo and his ...
, David Grier,
Alison Brown,
Missy Raines
Missy Raines (born April 6, 1962) is an American bassist, singer, teacher, and songwriter. She has won 10 International Bluegrass Music Awards for Bass Player of the Year. Missy Raines was the first woman to win IBMA Bass Player of the Year aw ...
, the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble, and the
Ying Quartet
The Ying Quartet is an American string quartet. The Ying siblings, from Winnetka, Illinois,Allan KozinnMusic in Review ''New York Times'' May 21, 1991R. M. Campbell," ''Seattle PI,'' Nov 10 2008 formed the quartet in 1988 while studying at the U ...
.
Personal life
Flinner lives with his wife Wendy in Vermont and teaches mandolin through his online Bluegrass Mandolin 101 program.
Discography
Solo albums
* 1998: ''The View From Here'' (
Compass
A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...
)
* 2001: ''Latitude'' (Compass)
Matt Flinner Trio
* 2009: ''Music du Jour'' (Compass)
* 2012: ''Winter Harvest'' (Compass)
* 2016: ''Traveling Roots'' (Compass)
Matt Flinner Quartet
2003: ''Walking On the Moon'' (Compass)
Todd Phillips
Todd Phillips (born Todd Philip Bunzl; December 19, 1970) is an American filmmaker. Phillips began his career in 1993 and directed films in the 2000s such as ''Road Trip'', '' Old School'', ''Starsky & Hutch'', and '' School for Scoundrels''. ...
,
David Grier, and Matt Flinner
* 1999: ''Todd Phillips, David Grier & Matt Flinner'' (Compass)
* 2002: ''Looking Back'' (Compass)
Modern Mandolin Quartet
* 2010: ''The Nutcracker Suite and other arrangements from Delibes, Faure, Llobet & Vivaldi'' (
Sono Luminus)
* 2012: ''Americana'' (Sono Luminus)
Sugarbeat
* 1993: ''Sugarbeat'' (Planet Bluegrass)
Peewee Pickers
* 1982: ''Getting Goin (self-released)
Also appears on
* 1994:
Douglas Spotted Eagle - ''Common Ground'' (Natural Visions)
* 1994:
Tim O'Brien - ''Away Out on the Mountain'' (
Sugar Hill) with Mollie O'Brien
* 1995: Kate MacLeod - ''Trying to Get It Right'' (
Waterbug)
* 1995:
Salamander Crossing - ''Salamander Crossing'' (
Signature Sounds
Signature Sounds Recordings is an independent record label specializing in Americana (music), Americana and modern folk music. Jim Olsen and Mark Thayer founded the label in 1995 to promote acoustic musicians who were playing in Northampton, Massa ...
)
* 1996: Judith Edelman - ''Perfect World'' (Compass)
* 1997: Nancy Hanson - ''Drops in a Bucket'' (Small Box)
* 1997: Ben Winship - ''One Shoe Left'' (Snake River)
* 1997: Kate MacLeod - ''Constant Emotion'' (Waterbug)
* 1997: Chris Proctor - ''Only Now'' (
Flying Fish
The Exocoetidae are a family (biology), family of Saltwater fish, marine Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish in the order (biology), order Beloniformes, known colloquially as flying fish or flying cod. About 64 species are grouped in seven genus, ge ...
)
* 1998: Judith Edelman - ''Only Sun'' (Compass)
* 1999: Anke Summerhill - ''The Roots Run Deep'' (Independent Songwriters)
* 2000:
Alison Brown - ''
Fair Weather'' (Compass)
* 2000: Judith Edelman - ''Drama Queen'' (Compass)
* 2001:
Brenn Hill - ''
Call You Cowboy'' (Real West)
* 2001: Jake Schepps - ''An Evening in the Village: The Music of
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...
'' (Fine Mighty)
* 2003:
Natalie MacMaster
Natalie MacMaster (born June 13, 1972) is a Canadian fiddler from Troy, Inverness County, Nova Scotia, who plays Cape Breton fiddle music. She has toured with the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana and Alison Krauss, and has recorded with ...
- ''
Blueprint
A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842. The process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number ...
'' (
Rounder)
* 2004:
Noam Pikelny
Noam David Pikelny (born February 27, 1981) is an American banjoist. He is a member of the groups Punch Brothers, Mighty Poplar and was previously in Leftover Salmon as well as the John Cowan Band. Pikelny is a nine-time Grammy Award nominee, ...
- ''In the Maze'' (Compass)
* 2004: K. C. Groves - '"Something Familiar'' (Skylark Sounds)
* 2004: Brenn Hill - ''Endangered'' (Real West)
* 2005:
Drew Emmitt
Drew Emmitt is an American mandolinist, guitarist, fiddle player, occasional flutist, and singer, best known for being one of the founding members of Leftover Salmon, as well as being the frontman of the Left Hand String Band, Drew Emmitt Band ...
- ''Across the Bridge'' (Compass)
* 2005: Armando Zuppa - ''Zupperman'' (Very Independent)
* 2007: Tim Carter - ''Bang Bang'' (Tree O Music)
* 2009:
John Cowan
John Cowan (born August 24, 1953) is an American progressive bluegrass vocalist and bass guitar player. He was the lead vocalist and bass player for the New Grass Revival. Cowan became the band's bassist in 1972 after the departure of original ...
- ''Comfort and Joy'' (
eOne
Lionsgate Canada is a Canadian entertainment company and a subsidiary of Lionsgate Studios. Based in Toronto, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition and production of films and television series.
The company began on June 1, 1973 ...
)
* 2009:
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for Steve Martin filmography, his work in comedy films, television, and #Discography, recording, he has received List of awards a ...
- ''
The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo'' (Rounder)
* 2009:
Missy Raines
Missy Raines (born April 6, 1962) is an American bassist, singer, teacher, and songwriter. She has won 10 International Bluegrass Music Awards for Bass Player of the Year. Missy Raines was the first woman to win IBMA Bass Player of the Year aw ...
- ''Inside Out'' (Compass)
* 2009: The Vignola Collective ''Gypsy Grass'' (Dance Research)
* 2011: various artists - ''Pa's Fiddle: Charles Ingalls, American Fiddler'' (
Thirty Tigers
Thirty Tigers is an American music marketing, distribution and management company for independent artists, based in Nashville.
History
The company was founded in 2002 by David Macias and Deb Markland and is distributed by The Orchard.
In 20 ...
)
* 2013: Craig Duncan - ''Blue Suede Bluegrass'' (Green Hill)
* 2014: David Benedict - ''Into the True Country'' (self-released)
Music Publications
1999: ''In The Pines: 13 Classic Old-Time Instrumentals'' (
Mel Bay
Melbourne Earl Bay (February 25, 1913 – May 14, 1997), known professionally as Mel Bay, was an American musician and publisher best known for his series of music education books. His '' Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords'', first published in 197 ...
)
* 2006:
Mike Marshall - ''The Mike Marshall Collection'' (
Mel Bay
Melbourne Earl Bay (February 25, 1913 – May 14, 1997), known professionally as Mel Bay, was an American musician and publisher best known for his series of music education books. His '' Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords'', first published in 197 ...
) - provided transcription
* 2007: ''All Star Bluegrass Jam Along for Mandolin'' Book/CD (
Homespun
* 2009:
Roland White
Roland Joseph White (né LeBlanc; April 23, 1938 – April 1, 2022) was an American bluegrass music artist, performing principally on the mandolin. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2017.
Biography
White wa ...
& Diane Bouska: ''The Essential
Clarence White
Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the Byrds ...
Bluegrass Guitar Leads'' (Diane and Roland Music) - with Steve Pottier and Matt Flinner
* 2011: The Real Bluegrass Book (
Hal Leonard
Hal Leonard LLC (formerly Hal Leonard Corporation) is an American music publishing and distribution company founded in Winona, Minnesota, by Harold "Hal" Edstrom, his brother, Everett "Leonard" Edstrom, and fellow musician Roger Busdicker. Curre ...
)
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flinner, Matt
1969 births
People from Colorado
American jazz musicians
American classical musicians
American bluegrass musicians
American bluegrass mandolinists
Living people
Leftover Salmon members