Matt Wong of West Windsor debuts the Matt Wong Group at Small World Coffee in Princeton on Saturday, April 18, at 8:30 p.m. Wong, a senior at High School South, picked up the guitar at age six and has been playing ever since. He will move to Boston in the fall to attend Berklee College of Music.
“This is my first show with my current project, the Matt Wong Group,” says Wong. “I’ve taken a break from my usual solo guitar show for the past couple months to work on more of a jazz/rock sound. The music that I’ve been working on recently is much different from the solo acoustic guitar show that people are used to seeing me do.”
Born in New Jersey, Wong has been living in West Windsor for most of his 17 years. His mother, Lilian Tsang, works at Princeton University, and his father, Bill Wong, works at Princeton Financial Systems. His sister Molly, 11, is a sixth grade student at Grover Middle School.
Wong, 17, began his music career at age 13 playing in various venues in the Princeton area. Since then, he has gone on to play throughout the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York areas, and has released two albums.
Highlights of Wong’s touring include performing with Grammy Award-winning guitarist Earl Klugh, sharing the stage with singer/songwriters Sarah Donner and Avi Wisnia, and performances at venues such as the Blue Note Jazz Club (New York City), the Legendary Dobbs (Philadelphia), and The Saint (Asbury Park). A 2013 Jersey Acoustic Music Awards nominee, Wong has released two albums, his latest titled “Reflections” in June, 2014.
The band features Kai Kiernan on bass, Mike Coiro on drums, and Aidan Furlong on tenor sax. “All of the guys are really hardworking musicians, and they all have very creative ideas to bring to rehearsals,” says Wong. “This is why I love working in a band so much — the interaction with other musicians gives me a fresh perspective on the music, and helps me improve as a player and a writer.”
Kiernan, born and raised in West Windsor, is a graduate of High School South and a student at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers. “I’ve been playing bass for almost 10 years, but have been playing jazz seriously for around four years,” says Kiernan. “I like how there is no ego, just a bunch of guys trying to play music and get better at just that.”
Coiro, a student at Peddie School, has been playing drums for six years as well as bass for four years, and guitar and piano for two years. “The best part of playing in this band is learning to play and jam with such great musicians, and I also love our outgoing yet serious rehearsals,” says Coiro. “I consistently look forward to playing with this group, which is a special thing.”
Furlong, also a student at Mason Gross, has been playing saxophones of all shapes and sizes, but primarily tenor, since he was in sixth grade. “I love playing in this particular band because instead of the straight ahead jazz I usually play, this gives me an opportunity to be a little more experimental and push everyone outside their comfort zone,” says Furlong. “But it’s far from totally out there with the intensely tight time and written parts.”
“Working with these guys has been a lot of fun,” says Wong. “I’ve known Kai since elementary school, and we played in another group together briefly a couple years ago. I met Mike over the summer in Boston while attending the five-week performance program at Berklee. I heard him play at a jam session the first night of the program, and I was immediately amazed. Aidan has only recently joined the group, but he’s a killer player.”
“The music that we will play is a mix of originals by Kai and myself, and covers of tunes by artists we really enjoy,” says Wong. “I would describe this new music as contemporary jazz and jazz/rock fusion, but I try not to be limited to just one genre of music. After all, jazz is such a broad style of music. One thing I’m looking forward to being able to do with this group is to improvise and interact with the band, which is something you can’t really do as a solo player.”
The music also includes a few jazz standards. “Make sure you stay for the entire night as several local musicians might swing by to sit in with the band,” says Wong.
Matt Wong Group, Small World Coffee, 14 Witherspoon Street, Princeton. Saturday, April 18, 8:30 p.m. Free admission. 609-924-4377. www.smallworldcoffee.com.
