Matthew Rybicki

Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Matthew Rybicki has performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Ernie Watts, Laurence Hobgood, Hilary Kole, Wycliffe Gordon, Ted Rosenthal, Mark Gould, Nnenna Freelon, Renee Fleming, Terell Stafford, Winard Harper, Mark Whitfield, Victor Goines and Marcus Printup. He has also had the great fortune of performing at many well-respected venues in New York such as The Village Vanguard and The Blue Note, as well as concert halls and festivals in locations ranging from Italy, to Qatar, to Taiwan. Rybicki maintains an active performing schedule, working with his own ensembles and with many accomplished colleagues and mentors such as Lew Tabackin, Lewis Nash, Dan Nimmer, Oscar Perez, Christian Sands, Gerald Clayton, David Berger, and Charenee Wade.

An adept educator, Matthew a faculty member at The Juilliard School and is an artist/instructor for Jazz at Lincoln Center where he developed and taught the inaugural bass course in the Essentially Ellington Band Director Academy. He has also been the Music Director for several educational performance initiatives, including Jazz in the Schools and hospital tours in conjunction with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Department of Services for People with Disabilities. In addition, Rybicki was a program coordinator for Midori and Friends and has led musical workshops at both The Whitney Museum of American Art and The Guggenheim, where he designed and presented educational performances that incorporate jazz with fine art.

Matthew has presented educational clinics in a wide variety of settings worldwide. Highlights include master-classes and clinics at the International Society of Bassists Annual Convention (Rochester, NY), Qatar Music Academy (Doha, Qatar), The Vitoria Jazz Festival (Vitoria, Spain), Georgia State University  (Atlanta, GA), Snow College (Ephraim, UT), Centro Nacional de las Artes (Mexico City, Mexico), Spoleto Music Festival (Spoleto, Italy), and The National Jazz Museum in Harlem (New York, NY).

He has also authored books for Hal Leonard Publications including Ray Brown: Legendary Jazz Bassist and co-authored the Goldmine Series for Bass, both of which were released in 2015. The Hal Leonard Jazz Bass Method was released in 2018.

Driven, Matthew’s debut recording released in 2009, allowed him to formally be acknowledged on the jazz scene as a performer and composer of note. Recording with jazz greats Ron Blake, Freddie Hendrix, Gerald Clayton, and Ulysses Owens, he was able to capture innovative and sophisticated performances of newly created original works that maintain close ties to the history of jazz.

Matthew received his Artist Diploma graduate degree from The Juilliard School in 2004 and his Bachelor of Music from Berklee College of Music in 1995.