Matt Greenwood - Atlas (2023)

Guitarist Matt Greenwood was born in Harare. He is a member of the white minority of Zimbabwe who grew up and became a musician in this country in southern Africa. At home, he played with such local celebrities as Oliver Mtukuji and Forward Kwenda. His tastes were influenced by such musicians as Bill Frizell, Avishai Cohen, Brad Mehldau and Donnie McCaslin. Among his favorite composers of the academic tradition are Bela Bartok and Sergei Rachmaninoff. After moving to Canada, Matt settled in Toronto and joined the ranks of local jazz musicians. For his debut album, Atlas, Greenwood employed a large group of Canadian jazzmen from Montreal and Toronto, both well-known like drummer Mark Kelso and Juno-winning bassist Mike Downes, as well as young and not so famous yet.

Atlas is a completely author's album, the program of which was ten compositions by Greenwood, written at different times. Each of them in its own way reflects Matt's desire to present jazz improvisation in forms close to academic music. – the composer is creative and inventive, combining seemingly very distant impulses. Thus, the composition From Sunshine, as he himself admits, owes its appearance to two of his musical heroes - Bartok and American folk artist John Denver. Sometimes, the motive for composing music for him is painting: he wrote a play with the unusual name The First Mourning, inspired by the painting of the same name by the French painter of the 19th century, William-Adolf Bouguereau, where Adam and Eve mourn Abel. For me, the favorite was the composition Redemption with excellent work by Kelso and Greenwood himself, of course. The drama and emotionality of this music is due to its theme: Matt recalls the failure of Rachmaninov's 1st symphony, which was not understood by the public at the debut performance.

It is clear that it is difficult to get a complete picture of the album from such brief retellings, the music must be heard with one's own ears. But the fact that another thoughtful and serious musician has appeared on the Canadian jazz scene is beyond doubt.