Bassist, composer听and educator Matt Smiley navigates his broad sonic world with imagination, openness听and artistic vision. Smiley merges his deep roots in the jazz bass tradition with modern explorations of sound, texture听and improvisation from the world of contemporary composition, making him a favorite and frequent collaborator of creative musicians across a variety of musical genres.
As a performer, Smiley has toured nationally and internationally, appearing on stages, festival performances and university residencies in the United States, Costa Rica听and the Netherlands. He has performed with bandleaders and composers including David Murray, Terrell Stafford, Christian Wolff, Greg Osby, Vinny Golia, Tony Malaby, Walter Thompson and Sam Newsome. Smiley leads frequent workshops and lessons on free improvisation, jazz bass and composition, working with educational partners including Denver School of the Arts, the Gift of Jazz and Casper College.听
Improvisation and collaboration are the common threads across Smiley鈥檚 recorded albums as a bandleader. His discography includes Endgame Trio鈥檚听Apocalypse Scorpion, an explosive improvisatory duo with guitarist Alex Nauman;听Seafoam Blue, a collection of original folk songs with violinist and vocalist Aimee Niemann; and听Free Range听with Art Deco, a jazz quintet blending free and straight ahead approaches. His release听Crankbait听includes a collection of original chamber pieces and features musicians Josh Reed, Briana Harris, Ben Parrish听and Michael D鈥橝ngelo.听His recent album听Binnen Buiten听features his mentor David Pope on tenor saxophone听and drummers Dru Heller and Ron Coulter听playing open form improvisation, gestures听and jazz standard forms.
Smiley was born in Staunton, Virginia, where his earliest experiences with creative music were inspired by the area鈥檚 vibrant jam band scene.听He received a bachelor鈥檚 degree in music industry with a jazz studies minor from James Madison University. Smiley moved to Colorado to attend graduate school at the University of Northern Colorado, where he graduated with a master鈥檚 degree in jazz studies. He completed a doctorate at the University of Colorado at Boulder and currently serves as a lecturer听in the jazz studies department at Boulder.听