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Matthew Tolentino
Preserving the music of yesterday, for the audience of today.
About Me
Matt Tolentino, who shares a birthday with Fred Astaire, was born May
10, 1985 in Dallas, TX. He was not born 80 years too late- rather, he
is placed in the perfect time- the present day- to preserve the music
of generations past, to bring the music of yesterday to the modern
audience of today.
Music has always been at the center of Matt's life. His father played
saxophone and piano in his younger days, in a band comprised of
neighborhood boys. Through his dad he first learned to love jazz, and
at the age of 7 claimed Henry Busse to be one of his favorites. When
he was 8, he was given a copy of the album, 'Shakin' the Blues Away,'
recorded by the Coffee Club Orchestra, the then-16 piece house band of
radio's 'A Prairie Home Companion.' The album was comprised of pop
tunes from the 1920s and early 1930s, and was his first exposure of
the niche music he now performs. To this day it remains one of his
favorites.
Matt Tolentino began his musical venture at 11, when he picked up the
clarinet to play in the band at Stonewall Jackson Elementary. He
played clarinet exclusively until he entered his sophomore year of
high school, when he branched out and added saxophone, tuba and
accordion, which he spent the entire summer learning. At 15 Matt met
one of his greatest musical influences, Robert Atwood of San Antonio,
a very fine accordionist who taught him much about the instrument and
music in general, and who would serve as his friend and mentor. Much
of high school was spent playing polka gigs in restaurants and playing
with the school jazz band. The accordion was Matt's first musical
love, even before he could play - very contrary to his generation,
'The Lawrence Welk Show' was part of his usual television viewing.
Matt never missed an episode, and for the longest time the thought
never occurred to him that these were in fact old shows!
Following high school, Matt briefly tried going for a music education
degree, but realized playing music within a strict academic setting
wasn't for him, and he gave it up after one school year. He took time
off, and in 2006 hit the road with the south Texas-based polka band,
The Sauerkrauts, playing clarinet and saxophone. It was his first time
on tour, and the experience was invaluable. The same year he began to
play off and on with the Austin based band, The White Ghost Shivers,
on accordion and bass saxophone.
He returned to school in 2007, and stayed with it for a while before
finally yielding to the temptation of doing music full-time. The same
year Matt met one of his good friends, Drew Nugent, a very talented
cornetist and pianist from Philadelphia. Upon seeing Drew's success
with his own bands, Matt decided to put his own together, and thus his
Singapore Slingers orchestra was born. He had been collecting 'stock'
arrangements for some time, and now had a group to play them. Matt
assembled the group from people he had known through his various work
in pit orchestras, recording, and gigging. The result was a group of
dedicated, talented players, a great number of which are still with
the orchestra to this day. The Slingers play a wide variety of musical
styles, including rag-a-jazz- a brief period in music between the
late teens and early twenties- a musical hybrid of ragtime and jazz.
Matt also heads up The Matt Tolentino Band, and various other smaller
incarnations of the larger Slingers, which usually boasts 4 or 5
musicians, and plays for small jazz clubs, private parties, dances,
and anywhere that hot jazz music is requested, and both the Matt
Tolentino Band, as well as the Singapore Slingers, are very popular
with the dancers.
He continues to focus exclusively on pre-swing popular music of 1895-
1935, including rags, fox trots, marches, one-steps, two-steps, and
waltzes. Being an accordion player, he is also very well versed in the
traditional music of Germany, Austria, The Czech Republic, and
Switzerland. Before he adapted jazz to the accordion, he played a
repertoire of polkas, waltzes, and marches, which he still performs a
lot. He plays a lot of solo accordion, but also leads The Royal
Klobasneks, a 7 piece dance band, which, like his other bands, is
dedicated to preserving traditional music- they, too, are also a hit
with dance fanatics!
A true multi-instrumentalist, he is equally at home on accordion,
clarinet, tuba, piano, tenor guitar, banjo, and saxophones,
specializing in baritone and bass sax. Some of his greatest influences
include Vince Giordano, The New Leviathan Oriental Fox Trot Orchestra
(the catalyst for starting the Slingers), Adrian Rollini, Al Bowlly,
Paul Whiteman, Scott Joplin, Walter Donaldson, Myron Floren, Garrison
Keillor, and Joan Morris and William Bolcom. He has traveled far and
wide to play, including New York, New Orleans, California, and British
Columbia (July 2008- 2010 with Alex Meixner). This music has made Matt
a lot of friends, and even brought his wife Danielle and him together,
through a mutual love of this music- what started as friendship in
2006 led to marriage in June 2010.
Matt will continue to bring the music of yesterday to the audience of
today, presented with respect and reverence- the way it should be.
Don't change your style to fit the song- change the song to fit your
style- Guy Lombardo
My Jazz Story
"When I was 8 years old, I was given a recording of jazz and popular songs of the 1920s and early 1930s, and literally my life has never been the same since. My music of this era, and the jazz of this time, speaks to me in a way no other music can; after discovering hot jazz and traditional jazz at that early age, I quickly took a liking to music of an earlier period as well- ragtime, Sousa marches, and much more. I decided to follow my dream, and make music my profession. I have been lucky to take this wonderful music that I have loved so much and make my livelihood from it. In the years following my decision, I have experienced much success with my bands, the largest being the Singapore Slingers- an 18-piece 'society band' focusing on music of 1900- 1935, with a healthy emphasis on the jazz and popular music of the 1920s and early 1930s. I love jazz, because it has been good to me, and I have had a lot of fun with it!"