Matt Eakle
STAFF INSTRUCTOR: FLUTE
Matt Eakle and his flute have been blowing crowds out of their chairs and onto their feet since 1989 as the first wind player to share the front line with David Grisman in the David Grisman Quintet. He is featured on 14 Acoustic Disc CDs with the David Grisman Quintet, Jerry Garcia, and Enrique Coria, and as the leader of his own jazz trio on the CD, Flute Jazz. On these and hundreds of other recordings, Matt takes people’s preconceived notions of what a flute can do and blows them inside out.
Matt’s ability to mimic the sounds of Japanese, Arabic, Native American, and East Indian flutes with the silver flute is unique. His note bending, growls, singing, percussive sounds and circular breathing combine to create an alchemy which transforms the silver flute into bamboo, cedar or ebony. You can hear this in Matt’s recordings with Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain, Japanese koto virtuoso Shirley Muramoto, Arabic percussionist Vince Delgado and Pakistani singer Afqat Ali Khan.
A resident of San Anselmo, Matt is a classically-trained flutist who is equally at home in western classical and jazz traditions. His performing credits include appearances with the Marin Symphony, Marin Opera Orchestra, Modesto Symphony Orchestra, and San Joaquin Valley Ballet Orchestra.
On stage and on record, Matt has collaborated with many well-known performers, including Davis Ramey, Mark Summer, Jerry Garcia, Alison Brown, Chris Isaak, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, Suzanne Ciani, Paul Winter, Zakir Hussain, Norton Buffalo and Paul McCandless. His flute can also be heard in the critically acclaimed documentary, The Parrots of Telegraph Hill.
Matt Eakle is an experienced private teacher and author of Daily Finger Exercises for the Jazz Flutist. He teaches flute students at all levels and in all musical styles.
