Matt Garstka

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Matt is an Independent Artist

Bio

It's conceivable that Matt Garstka's music career began shortly after being conceived. Matt's parents would play him Bob Marley , Mozart and Van Halen while Matt was still in the womb. It was evident at very early age that music had a positive effect on Matt. After taking two years of piano lessons from 5 to 7 years of age Matt insisted on trying the drums..wow. The natural inclination that Matt displayed was impressive even to the most seasoned veteran musicians who heard him. At age eight Matt was playing auxiliary percussion (congas, djembe etc.) in his Dad's reggae band. At nine Matt started playing drum kit at gigs. When Matt turned twelve he was lucky enough to meet and play with the great Jo Sallins. With encouragement from his parents and Joe, Matt has continued to progress and has recently appeared on Jo Sallins CD/DVD entitled "The Present? Matt will also appear on an instructional DVD and continues to play with Jo at schools and festivals in NYC & throughout the Northeast. Most recently Matt has performed at The Burlington Jazz Festival in Vermont and The Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA.
Currently Matthew is playing with 13 yr old guitar sensation Desiree?Bassett. Their band Desiree?& The Time Machine is being produced by Rolling Stone/Madonna alum Doug Wimbish. The band has been rehearsing at Longview Farms Recording Studio to get ready to record their debut CD. In August, Matt attended KoSA International Drum Workshop @ Johnson State College,VT. There he met, took classes and made friends with the likes of Giovanni Hidalgo, Antonio Sanchez,Bernard Purdie Rick Van Horn & more.Matt was one of the few chosen to participate in the Friday Night Concert.
?Teachers ?Bob Gullotti
B.A., Berklee College of Music. Performances with J.J. Johnson, Kenny Werner, Joe Lovano, Attila Zoller, Nelson Riddle Orchestra. Over 30 recordings to his credit. Masterclasses and workshops at Dartmouth College, Harvard University, New York University, Bogota University (Colombia), Ramon School of Jazz (Israel). Faculty: Berklee College of Music, University of New Hampshire, Brandeis University.
?Jo Sallins (National Performer, Teacher and Recording Artist)
?Rick Marshall ( Session Player Western Mass)
?Jim Fogarty (Wolfgang, Zing Recording))
?Clark Seibold (Jazz Freelancer)
?Jon Adams ( SMA , Orange Crush)
?Born in Hopewell, Virginia April 27,1989 to Greg & Sunshine Garstka
Sunshine & Greg own Performance Music & Jester's Coffeehouse in Downtown Westfield. Greg is a professional guitarist.