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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Matthew Garrison |
| Born | (1970-06-02) June 2, 1970 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, jazz fusion |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Bass guitar |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Labels | GarrisonJazz |
| Associated acts | Jimmy Garrison, John McLaughlin, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, John Scofield, Scott Kinsey, Arto Tuncboyaciyan
Notable Instruments: |
Matthew Garrison (born June 2, 1970) is an American jazz bassist. Since 2012, he has run the Shapeshifter Lab in Brooklyn, New York, with Fortuna Sung. Described by the New York Times as “an electric bass virtuoso”, he has toured with Herbie Hancock and many others.
His 2000 debut album, Matthew Garrison, was described by Bass Player magazine as having “raised the bar” for electric bass players. He is considered one of the most technically gifted jazz musicians of his generation.
In 2010, Garrison toured with R&B singer Whitney Houston during her Nothing but Love World Tour.
The son of bassist Jimmy Garrison and modern dancer Roberta Escamilla Garrison, Matthew spent much of his childhood in Italy. In 1988, he returned to the States to live with his godfather, Jack DeJohnette, with whom he plays.
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 is quickly becoming 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 (2014) 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 4,200 square foot location.
The Matt Garrison Standard
In early 2010, Matt Garrison announced, “I think it’s time for us to build a new version of my bass.” The prime driver for Matt’s interest in developing another iteration his model was the desire for narrower string spacing at the bridge — 17.5mm rather than the 19.0mm spacing he had been playing since getting his first Fodera in 1995. As we began the process of thinking through the new build, we all agreed that since the Matt Garrison Signature was one of our most requested models, we should strive to make this next version as affordable as possible. The Matt Garrison Standard (MGS) is the result of this quest.
Of vital importance was keeping the tone that Matt loves and had become used to while using materials that were more easily obtainable, less expensive, and easier to work with. The major substitutions involved swapping a 5-piece Ash neck for a 3-piece Maple neck, using Madrone Burl instead of Buckeye Burl (or Chestnut) and replacing the Ebony fingerboard with Madagascar Kingwood. All other specifications (except for the 17.5mm bridge spacing) remain identical to Matt’s previous Signature model and, according to Matt, we have “hit the ball out of the park” in the tone and playability department.
The calling cards for the Matt Garrison Standard are incredibly low action, narrow spacing, and short scale length allowing for blazingly fast runs, and effortless chording.
As with the other members of our Standard line, we offer just one configuration of the MGS (with no options) so that we can offer the same legendary Fodera quality, tone and playability as our custom instruments at a very competitive price point. Every MGS is built right here in our Brooklyn, NY shop alongside our custom instruments by the very same people, using the very same tools and methods.
Originally released on January 19, 2012 at the Winter NAMM Show, the Matt Garrison Standard began shipping to customers on, July 1, 2012. Some of the milestones working with Matt along the way to the Matt Garrison Standard…
- 1st Matt Garrison Fodera = 6/8/95 – Buckeye top, Alder body, Ebony FB, 34″ scale, 19.0mm bridge
- 1st Matt Garrison Signature Model = 10/7/99 – Chestnut top, Walnut body, Ebony FB, 33″ scale, 19.0mm bridge
- 1st Matt Garrison Standard = 10/13/11 – Box Elder Burl top, Walnut body, Pau Ferro FB, 33″ scale, 17.5mm bridge.
- Matt Garrison Standard (Series II) = 11/5/13 – Madrone Burl top, Walnut body, Madagascar Kingwood FB, 33″ scale, 17.5mm bridge.
Bass Stuff 