Woodwork – Matthew Stevens

Matthew Stevens’ guitar has an uncommon quality: even when amplified, it retains something of the direct contact between fingers, strings, and wood. On Woodwork, his 2015 debut as a bandleader, that closeness becomes a way to play music. The title evokes craftsmanship, the possibility of transforming existing materials into something that cannot be replicated. Stevens carries that idea into twelve compositions where contemporary jazz, rock, folk, and improvisation coexist without any one influence ultimately taking precedence over the others.

With Gerald Clayton on piano, Vicente Archer on bass, Eric Doob on drums, and Paulo Stagnaro on percussion, the guitarist finds a group capable of giving that exploration greater depth. The relationship between Stevens and Clayton is particularly compelling: their instruments share the harmonic space, but they also challenge each other and leave room for each other to breathe. On “Star L.A.,” the pulse established by Archer and Doob supports a melody that moves forward naturally until the exchanges between guitar and piano begin to shift its direction. Complexity emerges without interrupting the flow.

“Brothers” offers a different kind of intimacy, performed as a trio on an acoustic guitar that once belonged to Pete Seeger. The resonance of the instrument's body, the brushing of fingers against strings, and small details that often disappear through amplification all become audible. That same attention to sound helps explain the freedom with which Stevens approaches “Sunday,” by David Bowie, taking the song into a landscape of electric textures and improvisation without losing its introspective character.

Perhaps the most compelling aspect of Woodwork is how carefully constructed music can retain the feeling of being performed for the first time. Stevens writes melodies that linger in the memory, yet leaves enough space for his fellow musicians to transform them. The guitar can be delicate, rough-edged, luminous, or almost percussive; what remains is the curiosity of a musician who seems to discover new possibilities every time he touches a string.