Matt Roche is a guitarist and composer living and working in Naarm (Melbourne). Deeply grounded in the African-American traditions of jazz and improvisational music-making, his musical output is now centered on creating immersive sound connections with the environment and the body and is informed by disparate and competing musical traditions. A passionate performer and supporter of community music, he is strongly embedded within the local scene as a player, curator and teacher.
He is the bandleader, guitarist and composer of post-rock jazz band Soft Power who have released three full-length albums and toured Australia twice. Their latest album Bucolica was released independently in September 2019 at the Jazzlab in Melbourne, their second album Easy Listening was distributed via Melbourne record label Newmarket Music and was launched in Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart with a performance at MONA. He is also bandleader, composer and guitarist for his bebop jazz band Joying which formed in 2018. His other long-term projects include middle-eastern jazz band Shayan, jazz/indie-pop band Lilly Tunley Sextet, new-wave punk band Hydra Fashion Week and he has played with indie-rock singer-songwriter Gena Rose Bruce and toured Australia with experimental pop artist Biscotti.
Over the years he has shared the stage with Vince Jones, Reuben Rogers & Eric Harland, Julie O’Hara, the Melbourne Youth Jazz Orchestra and has performed at Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Stonnington Jazz Festival, Paradise Music Festival, Adelaide Festival, MONA – Museum of Old and New Art, Golden Age Cinema & Bar, The Jazzlab, Uptown Jazz Cafe and countless music venues around Australia.
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
“Always unpredictable guitar melodies” – HAPPY MAG 2018
Matt Roche 