Search - Matt Flinner :: Matt Flinner Quartet

Something really special is going on here . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 01/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . . something almost impossible to put into words. Matt Flinner, possessed of monster mandolin chops, has figured out a way to transpose bluegrass music into an entirely different key--encompassing world jazz, funk, and rock sensibilities--while all the time maintaining authentic traditional mandolin aestehtics.Quite a feat.And very attractive. The proof of the pudding is "Caravan/Sissy," given a punkish, hip-hopish feel, all the while retaining the starkly recognizable Dizzy sensibility transposed into the context of time-honored bluegrass aesthetics, all the while drenched in fuzz-tone jazz guitar. I don't know how he does it, but I'm in awe of this musical legerdemain.Continuing a trend of wildly eclectic musical experimentation, Walking on the Moon presents some of the--weirdly--at once most outre and most accessible musical amalgamations available. Revelatory.And not to be missed."

This Ain't Your Father's Bluegrass. Heck, It Ain't Bluegrass

Ted Eschliman | Lincoln, NE United States | 08/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Compositionally mature, this project is the fusion (pun intended) of acoustic mandolin and sophisticated electric guitar. Backed by electric bass and drums, Flinner struts his stuff and evokes tight ensemble comradery in this edgy environment. Bluegrass it ain't. Tasty... it is.
Their arrangement of the tradtional jazz standard "Caravan" is deliciously insane. This one redefines what a mandolin can do.
In ANY environment."