What a difference a year makes. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Matt Marshak while he was on tour last year and having a great conversation about music and a few other topics of interest. After his travels around the world, he strongly believes in the contemporary jazz genre and recognizes that fans from all demographics are always supportive. He, like some other artists, believes there is a new generation of jazz artists that are stirring the pot and creating what has yet to be seen. Matt is very excited about his 8th album titled “Lifestyle.” He’s a fan of the golden era of instrumental music and wanted to mirror that type of recording process. Marshak wanted to create music that was “timeless, intangibly honest, and that captured musical elements of live recording.” His inspiration was the appeal of the production process and the improvisation that allowed the flow of music to be natural. “Lifestyle,” the title track, opens the album up, immediately engaging the listener with its beautiful chord changes. The effortless flow of the songs on the album tell a believable story to the listener. Matt was fortunate to work with the very talented Gerald Veasley, Benjie Porecki, and drummer Carl Anderson on this album. In true Matt fashion, he delivers a soothing ballad at the end the album titled “I’ve Been Down.” In the words of Matt, “This is my vision. This is my belief. This is my musical “Lifestyle.”

Matt and I enjoy catching up and talking about the evolution of “Lifestyle”: