Jim Matus-Richie Barshay
Jim Matus and Richie Barshay are formidable artists. Together they comprise a world fusion power duo. Their first album together, Rise From the Top, is a masterpiece of improvised roots-based music.
Jim is the most prominent specialist of the laoutar, an electric Greek lute-mandocello hybrid that “conveys the mesmerizing, drone-like quality of Greek, Celtic, Indian and Gnawan music.” His repertoire spans world music, jazz and progressive rock. As a composer, improviser and band leader, Jim’s recorded and performed on his own and with Paranoise, Mawwal, Don Cherry, Hassan Hakmoun, Percy Jones, Grace Kelly, Derrik Jordan and Shane Shanahan. He contributed a piece, “Seeing Things,” to the 2021 Right Brain Records project Guitar Improv Summit Vol. 2.
Richie is a virtuosic multi-percussionist who’s been praised by Downbeat, JazzTimes and The Guardian. His touring and recording collaborators have included Herbie Handcock, Chick Corea, Esperanza Spalding and the Klezmatics, among many others.
Rise From the Top is a labor of love. Several of the album’s eight pieces are freely improvised, which others had some structure. Their musical chemistry is that of two old friends. Their sound is at once exotic and familiar, experimental yet rooted in tradition. Recorded at Jim’s studio in Western Massachusetts, this record draws you in and takes you on a journey you won’t want to end.
Hear Rise From the Top on Bandcamp.
“The tapestry of sound he created - from soft snare rattles and delicate cymbal breezes to electronic percussion - announced the arrival of a major innovator who also knows how to have fun.”
“Anarchist theory. Ancient spiritual values. Studio wizardry. Like some kind of techno-shaman, Matus has put together an urban tribe of professional musicians.”
Jim and Richie were featured in a full-length episode of the public TV program, The World Fusion Show in late 2023.
Hear GIS Vol. 2 on Bandcamp.
