Photo by Kim Leeson
If you sit down for a chat with Lakewood jazz musician and bandleader Matt Tolentino, you’re going to get two things: a rundown of his latest musical venture and a history lesson. We’re not sure which one is more fascinating.
You’re involved in big band jazz, right?
It is technically a big band, but it’s not big band music, although I certainly don’t mind people referring to it as that. Big band music is great, but we don’t tend to do one particular style. The group plays popular American music from 1895 to 1935. I like to say that we’re a catchall that plays anything that was popular. A lot of jazz from the ’20s and ’30s, but we also get into ragtime, marches, waltzes, tangos, you know, anything. Whereas true big band jazz tends to occupy the ’30s and ’40s.
As I’m sure you can tell, I have only a basic understanding of jazz.
That’s understandable. What we’re doing hasn’t been popular for 75 years, so a lot has happened since then.
Jazz reflects its era. In the ’20s, there was almost a childlike, naive aspect Americans had toward the world. It was just a big party. It’s basically an era that, its decadence and its frivolity really wasn’t equaled until the ’80s. Not to say that the ’20s didn’t come out of a war, but I think World War I and World War II were drastically different. With World War II, people came back from it older and wiser after the horrors of war, almost like, “I’m ready to come home and start a family.” World War I, nothing like that had ever been seen. So the ’20s, that era following it, people were almost like, “God, that was horrible. Let’s just party.”
That’s what I like about the era of jazz I play, because unlike a lot of later eras, it’s not pretentious. It doesn’t take itself any more seriously than it is. In the ’20s, they were still figuring jazz out, so they were still having fun with it. It was more like, “Can you make music on that thing? All right, let’s make music.”
You’re obviously very interested in history. Is this stuff you’ve just picked up on over time because you’re interested in jazz, or did you study jazz history?
It’s largely stuff I’ve picked up on my own. Part of it is just listening to it and enjoying it, but the historical and cultural context of things, it helps you understand where things come from and how they came about.
I wanted to be a music major, and I also wanted to be a history major. Those are the two things that I really love. I ended up doing neither.
Really? Why?
I realized: I hate this. This isn’t for me, because I couldn’t stand taking music and learning it academically. It’s all put in a box. It took a few semesters of me banging my head against the wall. Finally, in 2008, I just decided I was going to try and jump feet-first into being a full-time musician.
And that’s how you got into what you’re doing now?
I started small playing gigs and restaurants. Slowly built things up, until now music is full-time for me. I am able to make a living, and I wouldn’t have time to go back to school even if I wanted to.
I wanted to put together a large-scale band — to have saxophones and trumpets, brass, violins, the cello, a flute player, the banjo. I wanted all those things in there. In 2008, when the economy was terrible, I was tying to put together this 18-piece band. A lot of the people who came to that first rehearsal, who saw the vision and wanted to go with it, are still in the band today.
Our first gig was at the Pocket Sandwich Theatre, and we made $40 each and we were just over the moon. Thrilled. So there was a lot of momentum there that helped lift our spirits and build our confidence. The beauty of the orchestra is that we look out for each other. It’s a real community thing.
Now we’ve grown. We still play at Pocket Sandwich Theatre, but we sell it out and we make more than $40 each. We’ve done things like the Swiss Avenue Home Tour, private events, public events, house parties. We made a CD, and we’re working on our second. Things are really getting around. It’s been really fun.
Learn more about Matt Tolentino and his band, go to matttolentino.com.
