Matthew Garrison
About this site
This is Matthew Garrison’s artist website and an extension of the Matthew Garrison app (iOS, macOS, and visionOS). The app and this site share the same living archive of Matthew’s creative work.
Here you will find past and new albums, audio and video content, music charts and scores, lessons, and live streams—all in one place, continuously updated as Matthew develops more content. Browse and explore on the web; for deeper features (e.g. clip editing, sequencer, lesson booking), use the Matthew Garrison app on your device.
Born June 2, 1970 in New York. Here he spent, with his mother Roberta Escamilla Garrison and sister Maia Claire Garrison, the first seven years of his life immersed in a community of musicians, dancers, writers, visual artists and poets. After the death of his father Jimmy Garrison (John Coltranes bassist), his family relocated to Rome, Italy where he began to study piano and bass guitar. In 1988 Matthew returned to the United States and lived with his godfather Jack DeJohnette for two years. Here he studied intensively with both DeJohnette and bassist Dave Holland. In 1989 Matthew received a full scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. Here he began his professional career with the likes of Gary Burton, Bob Moses, Betty Carter, Mike Gibbs and Lyle Mays to mention a few.
Matthew moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1994 and since then has performed, toured and recorded with artists such as Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Chaka Khan, Pino Daniele, Meshell Ndege Ocello, Joni Mitchell, Whitney Houston, Wayne Shorter, Jack DeJohnette, Peter Erskine, Marcus Miller, Mike Mainieri, Steve Coleman, Jim Beard, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Mino Cinelu, Rita Marcotulli, Bill Cosby, Paul Simon, Cassandra Wilson, Wallace Roney, Geri Allen, Gary Thomas, John Mclaughlin, Scott Kinsey, Scott Henderson, The Gil Evans Orchestra, Tito Puente, Mike Gibbs, John Scofield, The Saturday Night Live Band, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, Pat Metheny, Carlos Santana, Jon Batiste and many others.
In 1998 Matthew founded GarrisonJazz Productions through which he currently Produces, Promotes and Markets his music. The latest projects are "Shapeshifter Live 2010 - Part 1, Matthew Garrison Solo", "12 Months" and "GarrisonJazz Productions Music Center" a website which provides a modern approach to music education, production and proliferation..
In 2012 Matthew opened, alongside his business partner Fortuna Sung, ShapeShifter Lab which quickly became one of the most important and influential music venues in New York. The Brooklyn based venue features performances by the most important artists on the music scene today and has been voted by Time Out New York (2013) as one the best 10 venues in NY, and by Downbeat ('15, '16, '17, '18) as one of the best 160 jazz venues in the world. The space is also a place for audio and video capture, photo shoots, workshops, private events, lessons, art exhibits amongst a variety of other possibilities that can take place within the 6,000 square foot location.
In 2021, Matthew & Fortuna, alongside their partner Jontahan Lott, founded ShapeShifter Lab Productions Inc, a company through which they develop and release their groundbreaking software platforms: "Matt Garrison" & "TuneBend" apps. They are working closely with Apple to push the boundaries of their work in this field, with much more exciting work to come.
In 2014, Matthew, alongside Ravi Coltrane and Fortuna Sung, formed the non-profit organization ShapeShifter Plus. This 501c3 has a primary directive to further advance and implement many of the projects already set forth through ShapeShifter Lab. In 2021, Jack & Lydia DeJohnette joined the board of directors and collectively they (Jack, Lydia, Fortuna, Matt and Ravi) are working hard to create new directions in the NY/USA/Global arts and culture sector.
In June of 2023 Matthew and business partner Fortuna Sung have re-opened ShapeShifter Lab in Park Slope at 837 Union Street (the old Tea Lounge location) after the 2020 Covid Pandemic pushed the last location to close. Exciting new adventures await throughout the next phase of Matthew's career as a musician, entrepreneur and community leader.
Additional information and media may be obtained through:
https://shapeshifterlab.com
https://shapeshifterplus.org
https://shapeshifterlabpro.com
Select a song to load the stage
Albums → Song → Flattened video will appear here.
Select a livestream or category from Streams
Categories → Livestreams will appear here.
Select a lesson or category from Studies
Categories → Lessons will appear here.