Matt Wigler Interview

Historical Society

Auditorium

January 6th, 2008

www.mattwigler.com

MM: When did you start playing?

MW: When I was five, I started classical piano lessons with a lady in the neighborhood who taught out of her house. Then at age eight, I went to a music camp where they mostly played hard rock and metal stuff; a lot of the kids had the long hair, black eye make up, chains, and everything, but they all turned out to be very cool; scary at first though. But at the camp I met Chuck Field who was teaching blues piano. I always loved jazz and blues but could never play it with the classical teacher, so when the camp ended I quit lessons with her, and started lessons with Chuck. That’s when I started to play a lot, and really enjoy it. Kinda cool that I got into blues from a heavy metal camp. After about two and a half years of lessons with Chuck, he went back to school and couldn’t give lessons anymore. So for about six months I looked around for a new teacher trying one lesson at music and arts with a teacher who I shall not name, although the lesson was atrocious at best and I was petrified of the teacher being at the store for some time after. But then I went to a Deanna Bogart concert with my dad and after some time trying to flag her down, met and took lessons from her when I was eleven.

MM: Love the CD…..how was the experience of recording in the studio for you?

MW: Do you have an interest in music production as well as playing music? What, if any, computer programs do you like to use for music? It was great to record the CD. We actually recorded in my living and dining room, because we have a fabulous grand piano and Deanna said we could not find one as good in a studio. So the sound engineer brought his rig in and it worked out great. Coming downstairs in the morning to record right there in the house was amazing. I would like to do some music production at some point. I haven’t really used any computer programs for music.

MM:Tell me about your relationship with Deanna Bogart. When did you meet her? How has she helped you? How do you feel about playing with her?

MW: I met Deanna at one of her shows originally, and then started taking lessons from her. She was the cool piano teacher in the beginning but now is a great friend. Sometimes we’ll meet to play now and end up playing backgammon or ping pong (which get’s very intense) instead. She’s a great influence and has helped me learn about all kinds of things in music; booking gigs, recording, playing on stage, everything. It’s always great to play with her, and just a ton of fun.

MM: Who are your favorite musicians to listen to?

MW: Oscar Peterson, Maceo Parker, Clark Terry, Robert Cray, Jimmy Smith, Joey Defrancesco, James Brown, Aretha, some of everything.

MM: If you could play with any other piano player for one night who would it be?

MW: Oscar Peterson, who’s probably my favorite jazz piano player.

MM: What is the best part of playing music for you?

MW: When you get into a certain zone where everything flows and nothing else matters, especially while on stage.

FILL IN THE BLANK

When people find out that I have already made a CD they say ….

Wow!

My favorite restaurant is (BLANK) because I really like the (BLANK)

Akbar (Indian) – the lamb vindaloo

If I release an album when I am sixty-five it might be called...

I don’t know, have to wait and see