Matt Flinner

Bio

“Flinner continues his reign as perhaps the most exciting and creative mandolin player on the scene today.”—Jazz Times

“(Flinner) blurs the lines between jazz and bluegrass, traditional and avant-garde.”—Associated Press

“Flinner provides the next logical evolutionary step to David Grisman’s unique ‘Dawg’ style, and does it with a nod to the past and a vision of the future.”—Bluegrass Now

Multi-instrumentalist Matt Flinner has made a career out of playing acoustic music in new ways. Starting out as a banjo prodigy who was playing bluegrass festivals before he entered his teens, Flinner later took up the mandolin, won the National Banjo Contest at Winfield Kansas in 1990, and took the mandolin award there the following year. Since then, he has become recognized as one of the premiere mandolinists as well as one of the finest new acoustic/roots music composers today. He has toured and recorded with a wide variety of bluegrass, new acoustic, classical and jazz artists, including Tim O’Brien, Frank Vignola, Steve Martin, Darrell Scott, the Modern Mandolin Quartet, Dave Douglas, Leftover Salmon, Alison Brown, The Ying Quartet, Tony Trischka, Darol Anger, and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. He has also recorded two Compass Records CDs and toured as part of Phillips, Grier and Flinner with bassist Todd Phillips and guitarist David Grier. His two solo CDs (also on Compass), “The View from Here” and “Latitude,” are now widely considered classics in the new acoustic/modern bluegrass style. His current group, the Matt Flinner Trio (with guitarist Ross Martin and bassist Eric Thorin), has forged new pathways in acoustic string band music with their two ground-breaking CDs, “Music du Jour” and “Winter Harvest” (coming soon!). For more information about the Matt Flinner Trio and their “Music du Jour” tours, visit the Trio page. And for more information about the Modern Mandolin Quartet, visit their website.