Interview with New York聽Jazz聽Musician & Mentor Matt Baker
We sat down with New York jazz pianist, entrepreneur, and coach Matt Baker to talk about the New York聽jazz聽world, his passions, his mentorship program, his own mentors, and the importance of keeping creativity alive at every stage of life.
Matt is a world-renowned jazz聽musician heralded as 鈥�the Australian piano whiz鈥� by聽The New York Times聽and described by British music executive Tony Hall as 鈥�one of the most respected and versatile pianist-composers yet鈥�. Matt leads聽The Matt Baker Trio聽in New York and performs regularly at聽jazz聽venues including聽叠颈谤诲濒补苍诲听补苍诲听The Blue Note. He tours both within the USA and internationally and has released 6 albums to date.
BAHS Founder Anita Rogers has had the pleasure of working with Matt as her coach for over a year now. Her goals were to step into the jazz world, vocally, master the repertoire and style, learn how to work with an accompanist and band, and then put on a concert. This goal was realized last May when Anita performed with the Matt Baker trio at聽聽in New York City. We are thrilled to announce that Anita will be doing a second jazz concert with Matt at the gallery on December 16.听
Thanks to a gentle push from Anita, Matt is now carving out space in his schedule to individually mentor a small number of people seeking a creative escape, whether through learning or returning to an instrument, stepping into New York鈥檚 jazz world, singing for pleasure, or even planning and preparing for a live performance at a major NYC venue.
After the interview, we are pleased to share Matt Baker鈥檚 new mentorship program,聽The Encore Experience – An Artist鈥檚 Renaissance.听
Matt, can you please tell us a little about yourself?
I鈥檓 from Australia but I moved to New York about 15 years ago when I decided I had to leave Australia because I was plateauing, artistically. I just didn’t have the artistic fulfillment that I really wanted. I had been to New York several times before moving here, so I knew that it was all over here – so I applied for a visa, I got it eventually, and here we are 15 years later.
I’m a jazz musician first and foremost, but I am also a coach, entrepreneur, and photographer.听As a聽jazz musician, I perform on the piano at gigs, jazz clubs, festivals, concerts in New York and around the world. I’m a聽portrait photographer聽as well – my shots inside NYC jazz clubs will be on view at Anita Rogers Gallery this December.
I’m also an聽entrepreneur, I run an online course for singers that is not singing lessons, but it teaches singers to gain the confidence to get up on stage and put on a show. It鈥檚 everything that you need to know to be a great band leader, taught by me and three of the world’s top live performing vocalists. It鈥檚 a wonderful course for vocalists.
The fourth thing I do is聽mentor.聽I have this desire in my life, now at my age to give back and not just do things that benefit and fulfill聽me. I have this real big desire to give back and with a bit of a push from Anita, I’ve decided to open up time and space in my life to coach and mentor a select group people who wish to have art and music and joy back into their lives, that they might have had at some point earlier in their lives but have lost. The way that I can do that is by bringing someone into my life, by either taking them around gigs and concerts and showing them the world that I live in, letting them experience the music and the art that I experience, helping them with their own music and art – whether it’s teaching them piano, helping them sing, assisting them in putting on a concert, helping them fulfill those dreams and desires and aspirations they might have had since they were a child even and for a long time. It鈥檚 a flexible program – it鈥檚 whatever works for them and whatever their needs may be – but the goal is to bring back music and joy into their lives.
Who is your mentorship program right for?
It鈥檚 for anyone聽yearning for creativity and artistic connection. It鈥檚 for those who are constantly tied up with their job, homework, family 补苍诲听miss having something like music in their world. It鈥檚 for those who learned an instrument when they were younger, regret giving it up, and would kill to have even a piece of it back. It鈥檚 for those who聽aspire to sing for friends at a great New York City venue聽but don鈥檛 know how to achieve that. 聽It鈥檚 for anyone who is missing something in their soul, artistically, and would like to find it again.
Did you have any mentors in the music world in particular that shaped your approach to your music and your style?
Absolutely. My main mentor is my teacher who I still learn from today,听Taylor Eigsti. It’s been 16 years of lessons with him. He is a fantastic, phenomenal world class pianist. He tours the world continuously, has won two Grammy awards for his albums, and he not only teaches me piano and jazz specifically, but sometimes in our lessons or phone calls, we talk about business, life, the career, and the world of music. So he has held my hand for the last 16 years, but I’ve also had many, many teachers that haven’t been as regular as him in my life but were also formative, including greats like聽Benny Green,听James Williams, 补苍诲听Mulgrew Miller. I was fortunate enough that one of my first teachers was Ella Fitzgerald’s accompanist of 30 years – the great聽Paul Smith. He taught me a lot about playing for singers and accompanying music. So yes, I鈥檝e had mentors in music and business for my entire life.
You mentioned how you moved from Australia to New York and understanding that New York was聽the聽place to be for your career. How would you describe the New York jazz community? Are there any jazz clubs in particular you’d recommend to the readers?
Absolutely. Well,聽New York is just a mecca for art and music. Whether it’s jazz music or cabaret or musical theater, Broadway, whether it’s art, painting, sculpture, drawing installations, photography – it’s all here. So, it’s just this聽melting pot of culture and creation and art in this city. And everyone wants to be here, so it’s the people that make it, really. Besides the music or the art and photographs you see in the galleries鈥t’s the people. It’s the energy of the people that really makes it so everyone aspires to be here. I find it’s like聽everyone is here because they’re on some sort of creative mission聽or have some sort of purpose or goal in the arts. It鈥檚 an incredible energy.
Specifically for jazz clubs, there’s so many, and that’s another great thing about why I’m here is because there’s聽so much opportunity. Yes, there’s more competition but there’s so much opportunity in the sense of venues. Some of my favorites are聽,听, and then other locations that aren’t necessarily jazz clubs, but they’re venues that have jazz on.听I play often at聽. And the聽, the聽,听. But my favorite is definitely the聽.
At what age did you first get into music? When did you know that this was such an important aspect of your creative soul?
Well, I got into music at the age of five, I started learning classical piano back home in Australia. At 12, I changed to jazz. And in my late teens, I started to discover a lot of the jazz greats – on whatever instrument. That included people like聽Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torm茅, Shirley Horn, Carmen McRae鈥�.all the great singers. And besides my journey with the piano, I really fell in love with vocal jazz. I love the lyrics, the story, and I started to truly love accompanying singers and with my skills as a piano player, I found that I loved creating that bed of support, music, and sound underneath a singer. So in my early 20s, besides pushing a career as a solo artist and as a pianist in a trio, I started to frequently accompany singers. And to extend the answer to the question of how I got where I am today – when I would tour in my late 20s, I would do workshops at jazz clubs for anyone, but most of the people who would come to those workshops were singers who had questions about leading bands and directing bands and – not conducting – but really how to聽lead their band onstage. So a lot of my work came from those workshops and came from singers wanting help from me. And I started to become this piano player who really started to聽specialize in coaching singers, not in their voices and the singing, but in helping them work with bands and accompanists and lead their bands and be a great front person and put on exceptional shows. That is where my online course grew out of – it came from years of workshops and helping singers, which I still love to do today.
You鈥檝e toured in the U.S. and internationally, you’ve recorded multiple albums, you’ve won many awards. What accomplishment are you most proud of?
That’s a great question. I was a聽finalist for three years in a row in Switzerland, in the Montreux International Solo Jazz piano competition. That鈥檚 something that I’m really proud of. I’m really proud of the fact that I’ve worked聽15 years in New York City. Like, that’s a really cool thing, and I have achieved most of my goals here – and now I’m constantly making new goals the older I get.
I’m also really proud of the online video course I created.聽It was filmed a couple of years ago and took a year to edit and create on the back end. And now it’s been selling for a couple of years and doing really well. So that’s a huge achievement to create something out of nothing and do that, and I think the last thing I’ll say is I鈥檓 ultra-proud and grateful for the community of friends I have around me. My community is huge now – it’s just ever-expanding and it鈥檚 a聽beautiful community of people.听Most of them are artistic or musical in some respect, and they’re truly a great support.
What would your best advice be for a person maybe who doesn’t have a creative job or regular creative outlet and is looking to reconnect with that part of themselves? What would you tell them?
Well, at the minimum they need to connect with a friend in that world that can invite them to tag along to events with them, and then start enjoying the things that this friend enjoys. Maybe that snowballs into taking lessons or participating at events, playing their instrument at events. That would be ideal. But even better than a friend is to聽get themselves a good mentor or a coach.聽Someone who can say, “Okay, what is it that you want to do? What are your dreams, goals, and aspirations? Now let me actually work out methodically how I can make that happen for you. That鈥檚 something I鈥檓 really proud to offer to the community.
What can people expect from your jazz concert at on December 16?
Well, a really聽wonderful evening of beautiful, great American songbook, and I’m going to just use the word jazz. Anita is really diving into the world of jazz with this concert. It’s with a really wonderful band in addition to myself and Anita – we have聽Tony DePaolis聽on double bass 补苍诲听Aaron Seeber聽on the drums. It鈥檚 the same band that we had last May and Anita is going to be presenting a really beautiful show of some fast ones, some ballads, some classics, some newer ones, of a beautiful jazz repertoire, which is going to be a fantastic concert.
Rediscover the part of yourself that never stopped dreaming. A month of private artistic mentorship and musical immersion with acclaimed jazz pianist Matt Baker, designed to reawaken your creative spirit, connect you to world-class artistry, and rekindle the joy of music.
-Each program lasts a month, and in that time mentees will have:
-Ongoing access to Matt throughout the month for tailored coaching and support, including via phone and email
-Invitations to attend concerts, open mics, rehearsals, recording sessions, whatever is available in your area of interest
-Lessons on your instrument, if you choose
-Most of all, a fun-filled month full of music, art, escape, fulfilling dreams, self-expression, saying goodbye to old regrets, and filling your soul with what you value most, and what makes your heart sing
Monthly sessions start in early December 2025 and run each month through 2026.
This experience is open to people of all ages and abilities. Each program is completely custom, and can be extended as needed. For example, over a period of 1-3 months, Matt can help mentees create their own show by learning repertoire, rehearsing the billing, choosing the venue, choosing a date, promoting it, selling it, and finally putting on a concert.
If you are unsure if this is a good fit for you or would like to learn more before committing, email聽matt@mattbaker.com.au聽to chat with Matt about your particular goals.