Matt Lee (musician)
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Matt Lee | |
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| Born | October 23, 1959 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | musician, producer, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, Bass, Piano, Keyboard, Vocals, Drums, Saxophone, Clarinet, Oboe |
| Years active | 1973-Present |
Matt Lee (born October 23rd, 1959) is an American Musician, Producer and, Singer/Songwriter. Most notably he is the current producer and engineer of Joni Mitchell and has worked as an A&R representative and music supervisor with Peter Rafelson, as an associate producer with Robert Trujillo on the movie Jaco, and worked as a mixer with Fur Dixon of The Cramps.
Early life
Matt Lee was born to his mother, a Japanese American and survivor of the Manzanar Internment Camp in WWII. His father was a commanding Air Force officer at Merced airfield and later inducted into the OSS. As a kid he was taught to play guitar by legendary Jazz guitarist Ted Greene and began his career in 1973 while in his junior high band in Palms Jr. High in Los Angeles, the Nasty Nose Pickers, where their first performance was cut short by a display of lewd conduct by a young female student.
From there Lee continued his musical career in the Los Angeles area.
Career
Matt Lee's career has spanned 5 decades and multiple genres. At the age of 18 he joined the band Blow Up as a bass player and was signed to BOMP! Records. In 1982 Lee Joined The D.I.s and was with them until 1986. Lee was featured on their signature release Lock n' Load. On December 9th 1984 the band opened for the Ramones at The Palace Theatre in Los Angeles .
In 1987 Lee joined the band The Mighty Hornets and remained with the band until 1994. The band opened for Bruce Springsteen in 1989 at The Rubber Club In Los Angeles. The band also acted as a backing band and played with Billy Idol on numerous occasions. They were also the house band in other Los Angeles clubs like Spice, Black and Blue, The Palace, The Roxy, The Roxbury, Union and, The China Club.
Jeff Baxter and John Entwistle sat in regularly with the Mighty Hornets at the Roxy and they were also known to be joined by Al Di Meola.
Though little record of it exists, in 1988 Jani Lane of Warrant had a Beatles cover band in 1988 which included Matt Lee on guitar, Sean McNabb (Quiet Riot, Bad Boyz) on bass and, Alan Krigger (Ike and Tina Turner review, London) on drums. In 1998 he began a long term collaboration with Butch Young where, most notably, they worked on the album Mercury Man where Lee played guitar and bass.
In 2008, Matt Lee met and befriended Canadian-American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter Joni Mitchell when his high school friend recommended him to Mitchell as a backing musician. As their friendship continued Mitchell began expressing to Lee that she was interested in having him record, mix and master her record Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced. The record won the Grammy for Best Album Notes in 2015. Mitchell and Lee continue to work together and, most recently, have collaborated on the remix of Song to a Seagull as a part of Joni Mitchell's archive project.
In more recent years, Matt Lee has transitioned into engineering, producing and music industry work. In 2013 he began his work as an A&R representative for Peter Rafelson.
Matt Lee was also the Associate Producer on the documentary Jaco a 2014 American documentary that depicts the life and death of jazz musician Jaco Pastorius, during which he worked closely with Robert Trujillo and Joni Mitchell.
Most Recently, Matt Lee played guitar on the album Gloryland by Inger Lorre which was released on October 03, 2023.
| Project | Role | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Blow-Up | Bass | 1978 |
| The D.I.s | Guitar | 1982-1986 |
| Jani Lane and The Silver Beetles | Guitar | 1988 |
| The Mighty Hornets | Guitar | 1987-1994 |
| Butch Young | Guitar & Bass | 1998-2018 |
| Joni Mitchell | Engineer | 2013-Present |
| Peter Rafelson | A&R | 2013-Present |
| Jaco | Associate Producer | 2014 |
References
External links
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