About Matt
Matt Hoyne is an in-demand Naarm (Melbourne) based jazz guitarist and composer who, for over a decade, has developed a unique voice through a consistent output of live performance and recording. With three album releases under his own name (Stories We Tell 2020, Big Vibe! 2022, LPthree 2023) and regular collaborations with some of Melbourne’s finest musicians, including Eugene Ball, Merinda Dias-Jayasinha, Sam Anning and Tamara Murphy, Matt’s playing values melodic sensibility and spontaneity. As a composer, Matt’s music draws deeply from the African-American and Australian jazz traditions and, combined with his own personal musical language and experience, he creates new and unique forms to facilitate improvisation.
In 2020, Matt released his debut album Stories We Tell, Songs We Sing (with funding assistance through City of Melbourne’s Quick Response Grants) that features a collection of songs with lyrics that are crafted to reflect the stories and experiences of contemporary Australians. Recorded alongside some of Melbourne’s finest musicians and improvisers, the music seeks to reconcile a love of jazz with a need to respond to, and acknowledge, the 21st century.
In 2021, Matt co-led the Emergence series alongside Harry Tinney, Flora Carbo and Brennan Hamilton-Smith that, through a partnership with Uptown Jazz Cafe, presented a program of original live music featuring young and emerging local musicians. This project was supported by the Creative Victoria and ran for six months in 2021. It culminated in the live album Big Vibe! released in early 2022, which documents the final concert of the residency and features Matt Steele, Lewis Pierre and Robbie Finch. In 2022, he was nominated by Tamara Murphy for the prestigious Freedman Fellowship for his original music and contribution to the Australian jazz community. As well as his performance work, Matt is a passionate music educator and guitar teacher, currently teaching lessons and ensemble workshops at Princes Hill Secondary College and MacRobertson Secondary School.
