Matt O’Donnell

It really, truly doesn’t get any better than this.

On September 22nd of this year, this album will have been out for a decade. It still sounds 100% fresh to me.

Last I updated, I mentioned that me and the guys did a studio recording of Gentleman. Just wanted to share that with you. Personnally, I think Steve’s piano solo is exceptional, as is his playing throughout.

Yup!

Hey friends & lovers (and ex-lovers)!

Just got out of a brief studio session with the Matt O’Donnell Quintet. We were laying down a version of “Gentleman” for my friend Ben Pintar, who is a Music Production & Engineering major here at Berklee. We went through about five takes and finally got what we were looking for. It was a bit truncated, as we had to get the tune in under five minutes, but it worked out quite nice. In between the fourth an fifth takes, we played scratch versions of “In A Sentimental Mood” and “Squeak In Your Door”. Nice sounding band, even if this was the first time we were all together in a room since the 12/10/07 show.

March 5th. Senior Recital. 7PM. Be There.

When it comes to musical performance, I think 2 is the perfect number. Duets are the most intimate of musical settings, and there have been so many great ones I admire. Bela Fleck & Edgar Meyer, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Simon & Garfunkel, Chris Thile & Mike Marshall, John Mayer & David LaBruyere, Jason Mraz & Toca Rivera, Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham, and Oscar Peterson & Ray Brown are just a handful of the best duo settings that I can think of off the top of my head. In a day and age where everyone in the music business likes to say “playing with other people is like having a conversation”, lots of them are referring to groups of 4 and 5 musicians, while I like to remind myself that having a conversation is just me and someone else. Duo.

I used to be lucky enough to play a duo performance every year with Jay Bundy on drums at the Notre Dame coffeehouse nights throughout high school. Every once in a while, Jeff Camlet used to come and play sax for my solo sets at Dale’s. Also, for a while, I had a working deal with Nicole Gabana in duo format.

I’ve been thinking about trying to find a partner to duo with just for fun. I’m not quite sure what instrument, but something that could support my bass playing if I’m playing something melodic or not implying the chord changes, or something like that. As for what to play? Some classical music would be cool, in with some jazz standards, and pop tunes, too. Who knows? Anyone with as broad a palette as I have would be far more than ideal.

Bring it on, someone.

No Thing On Me
Gentleman
Shake Your Rugalator
Sweet Little Angel–>
Every Day I Have The Blues
Squeak In Your Door
In A Sentimental Mood
When The Saints Go Marching In

Fun, fun set at the All Asia. I got a chance to play bass for Casey Meredith for the first set of the night, which was a good time. Lots of good friends came out for the evening, which took a lot of the pressure off. You may say “well, that’s obvious”, but it was a huge contrast (in a good way) to our last gig at Bill’s Bar.

Gentleman has finally settled into something really great sounding. Steve’s solo sounded fantastic, and I was literally playing notes that aren’t even on the bass. Quinn’s treatment of Sweet Little Angel was the sound that causes swooning, the part of the swooning played by Abye’s sax. Squeak In Your Door was done as the “fast” version, but no one could have known, because we decided to play the game “How fast can we play In A Sentimental Mood?” right after that. Bringing up the rear was When The Saints Go Marching In, which had some call and response, hand clapping, and merriment all over it.

See y’all next time.

Still need to write a show journal for the All Asia gig this past Monday, but until then the setlist is posted in the Setlist Archive section of the site….

I guess I completely missed this a few months ago, but it’s really tight. It really makes me wish I had gotten into this band….

Snagged a couple photos/signatures from Sean Watkins and Mark Schatz of Nickel Creek last night. Check it.

Hey friends,

I’m currently sitting in the lobby of the Doubletree Hotel in Nashville, TN. I’m waiting for the hour of 3pm (central) to come around so I can check into my room.

Why am I in Nashville? You may be asking yourself that question right now. Well, the answer is that I’m down here until Friday morning so that I can see the final two Nickel Creek shows before they go on indefinite hiatus. I’m hoping that these are really awesome, special shows. Well, they have to be, since they’re Nickel Creek shows. It’s inevitable.

I’ll be posting pictures from stuff I’m doing around here. Pictures from the show, maybe some stuff afterward, Nashville excitement. So keep checking in for the next few days for that!

No Thing On Me
Squeak In Your Door
Gentleman
Shake Your Rugalator
In A Sentimental Mood

Good night at Bill’s Bar last night. This was the first performance of the new Matt O’Donnell Quintet, which has been mentioned here for a little while. We’ve had this gig booked for about a month now, so it was nice to finally get it going after a warm-up performance on Nov. 8 for the Berklee College of Music bass faculty.

There was a great crowd out to see us even though we were on first out of four bands. They stayed with us for all 35 minutes we were onstage, too. We were especially blessed since we had to start playing essentially as soon as the doors opened.

No Thing On Me had that kind of soul that makes you not want to do a single thing but dance like it’s 1974 and you’ve got a gold chain getting caught on your chest hair. We counted Squeak In Your Door a little slower so that it had a chance to sink in more, as opposed to the breakneck speed that we’d been playing it at in rehearsals. I think Steve Chaplin and Abye Osman were feelin in the mood for makin’ love during Gentleman, because they were making the slow groove as hard as it gets. Mr. Quinn Carson is ready to start a new dance craze with Shake Your Rugalator, and it was all up to Cameron Outlaw to set us up to blow minds on In A Sentimental Mood. After the rest of the world hears us play that one, they’ll wonder why Ellington wrote it as a ballad.

Thanks so much to everyone that came out last night and enjoyed themselves. We’ll be playing again soon, so don’t worry your pretty little heads.