Matt Lemmler
Matt Lemmler

Matt Lemmler

(504) 913-0240
Recently elected Governor for the GRAMMY Recording Academy, Matt Lemmler is considered to be one of the most original musicians to recently emerge from the birthplace of jazz.
Influenced by the music he heard growing up in New Orleans, Matt Lemmler is an accomplished jazz pianist, vocalist, producer, arranger and educator. Born in 1967 and raised in the lower 9th Ward, blocks away from the home of Fats Domino, Matt remembers a childhood where music filled the house. Matt, his brothers Richard, Jr. and Michael, and his father, Richard, Sr., a retired professional musician, played piano and trumpet day and night. The dining room was eventually converted into a rehearsal room, where he would practice with high school combos, rock & roll garage bands and professional gigging musicians. This lifestyle was normal to him and he didn’t realize until later in life that other families in the neighborhood didn’t live the same way. His parents were open-minded and supportive in allowing their boys to have free reign in exploring and creating music. The only rule set down by his mother was that the music had to stop at 10 p.m. so the neighbors wouldn’t call the cops.
Matt’s teenage years were spent playing trumpet in the Holy Cross middle and high school marching and concert bands, and piano in the jazz bands. During this period, his high school music directors began giving him more responsibility to write for the school bands and arranging and composing became his focus. He studied arranging with Grammy award-winning arranger Tony Klatka and jazz piano with Ellis Marsalis, patriarch of the Marsalis family. These early and influential mentors inspired a young boy to pursue and dedicate his life’s work as a professional jazz musician.


During college, he was the house pianist for a jam session at New Orleans’ premier jazz club, Snug Harbor. He played with many local jazz greats such as Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, Jr., James Black, George Porter, Jr., Charmaine Neville, Harry Connick, Jr., Rick Margitza, Nicholas Payton, Wess Anderson, Jon Cowherd to name a few.
After completing his Bachelor’s degree at Loyola University in 1990, Lemmler moved to New York City. In 1992, he received his Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance & Composition from The Manhattan School of Music. While living in NYC, he studied with jazz pianists Kenny Werner and Harold Danko. Matt composed and arranged many original works, some of which he performed in Europe and debuted at Carnegie Hall. He stayed on in NYC arranging and performing with many of the jazz greats - Chris Potter, Lee Konitz, Dave Liebman, Matt Wilson, Joel Frahm and many others. In 1994 he decided to move back to his hometown of New Orleans.
Shortly after returning home, he was hired as pianist for Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical The Phantom of the Opera, touring the U.S. for 4 years before returning home to work with New Orleans jazz legend, Pete Fountain.
In 2000, Lemmler set out to pursue his own projects and recorded his first CD, Portraits of Wonder, a New Orleans jazz tribute to the music of Stevie Wonder. Portraits of Wonder, produced by Tracey Freeman (Harry Connick, Jr.), garnered national attention and performed to sold-out audiences featuring noted artists Brian Blade, John Ellis, and Nicholas Payton.
“It takes remarkable ears for an arranger to shape something altogether new out of tunes so deeply impressed in the public consciousness.” Downbeat Magazine

“Sumptuous arrangements that brilliantly recontextualize Wonder’s music with sparkling piano accompaniment.” JazzTimes Magazine
“Contemporary jazz pianist Lemmler earned a truckload of kudos for his innovative CD, which recast gems from the Stevie Wonder songbook into elegant modern jazz showcases. Lemmler's tasteful work on the ivories and superb horn arrangements makes this CD a keeper." New Orleans Times Picayune/Best of New Orleans-Critic's pick for New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
“Lemmler hits higher musical ground by recasting and rearranging 10 Wonder compositions into graceful pieces for a nine-piece jazz ensemble.” Gambit Weekly
“A fresh, skillfully rendered take on a very familiar body of work.” . . . “This is a jazz record, the jazz vibe brings out the elegance of Wonder’s music.” . . . New Orleans Times-Picayune
“One of the year's most compelling local jazz releases.” Critic's Choice - Top 10 Louisiana CD's of 2001
In 2004, Lemmler was commissioned to arrange and conduct for French pop star, Dany Brillant. Brillant’s fascination with New Orleans inspired him to record A La Nouvelle Orleans in the Big Easy using members of Harry Connick, Jr.’s big band. A La Nouvelle Orleans went Platinum Gold in Europe.
While teaching jazz piano and arranging at both Loyola University and the University of New Orleans, Lemmler was recommended by Ellis Marsalis to replace him upon his retirement as full-time Assistant Professor of Jazz Piano at the University of New Orleans. In August 2005, after accepting the tenure track position at UNO, fate stepped in and Hurricane Katrina changed his life forever. He evacuated to Houston, Texas where he was working within two weeks as pianist for Tommy’s Seafood Steakhouse.
After the huge success of Lemmler and Brillant’s first collaboration, Matt was hired once again by Brillant, in August 2006, to serve as his musical director for his next CD, Histoire d'Un Amour. On this project, Lemmler arranged & conducted for a 16 piece big band and 30 piece orchestra featuring 60’s/70’s pop cover tunes. The original plan was to record in Paris, New York or Los Angeles. Because New Orleans was still reeling from the devastation of Katrina, Lemmler hoped recording in New Orleans would bring new life and hope to his hometown. Lemmler believes this was one of the first major recording sessions done in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
As a way to work through his grief over the tragedy of Katrina, Matt decided to go into the studio during the spring of 2006 and record his next CD, a compilation of classic New Orleans standards. The Music of New Orleans is a soulful and heart-rending tribute to his beloved city and to all the New Orleans musicians, past and present, which influenced him and his music. Most importantly, The Music of New Orleans is dedicated to his fellow New Orleanians who lost their lives and to those who have survived and continue to press on to rebuild a city like no other. The Music of New Orleans was recorded in Houston and New Orleans, featuring instrumentalists and vocalists from both cities.
In January 2006, Matt was hired as musical director for Tommy’s Seafood Steakhouse, where he elevated the restaurant and jazz club into one of Houston’s leading venues for live jazz. Top notch players from New Orleans, New York and Houston performed nightly.
“A perfect synergy of food and music. You can hear the best jazz players in Houston . . . highly recommend eating dinner in the lounge at Tommy’s.” Houston Press


After leaving his position as musical director at Tommy’s Seafood Steakhouse, Lemmler accepted the prestigious position as musical director of Trinity Church/Houston for the Sunday Jazz Mass services. He was honored to hold a creative/spiritual position that allowed him to arrange and compose hymns/spirituals for each Sunday’s services.

In January, 2010, he helped produce the 9th Annual Trinity Jazz Festival featuring Kirk Whalum, Jason Marsalis, Roland Guerin and Kim Prevost. The festival concert featured half of Whalum’s music and half of Lemmler’s. At the culmination of the Trinity Jazz Fest weekend, Lemmler composed the Sunday Jazz Mass “Tribute to the Music of New Orleans” which featured New Orleans musicians Jason Marsalis, Roland Guerin, Herlin Riley, Kim Prevost as well as Houston’s best jazz musicians.

After five years in exile in Houston, Matt’s spiritual awakening and musical path led him back home to New Orleans. Shortly after returning home in 2010, Lemmler’s piano and arranging skills were featured on New Orleans Jazz trumpeter and vocalist Kermit Ruffins’ (from HBO series Treme) last two CD’s, Have a Crazy Cool Christmas and Happy Talk. That same year, Lemmler established his production company SMartist Productions LLC and immediately starts producing promising artists and new projects with his New Orleans Jazz Revival Band.

The tribute to the Music of New Orleans and weekly church services while living in Houston, served as motivation to bring joy and healing to everyone’s spirit through the power of New Orleans music, and then came the inspiration to create his "New Orleans Jazz Revival Band". This ensemble performs arrangements from Portraits of Wonder, Music of New Orleans and music from the soon to be released CD UBUNTU, which features musicians Brian Blade, Bill Summers, Jason Marsalis, Sean Jones, John Ellis, Kim Prevost, Evan Christopher, Mark Mullins, Shane Theriot and others. This new path of Spiritual inspiration continues to enlighten Lemmler about the healing power of music, and continues to motivate him to perform New Orleans Jazz for people around the world.
In 2011, Lemmler was elected to the GRAMMY Recording Academy Governor position, Memphis Chapter Board and also appeared in an episode of HBO’s TREME performing an original composition.