TOVE IREN SPISSOY GERHARDSE
If you like jazz and blues, and want to hear a great local musician or just want to see what kind of music majors BYU has to offer, Mama’s cafe Monday at 8:30 p.m. is the place to be.
Matt Harding, 25, a senior from Orem majoring in music, will bring his jazz guitar and friends Adam Holdaway (percussion) and Greg Smith (guitar) to Mama’s to play simple, but soulful blues and swing jazz.
“Matt Harding is certainly the best musician in Provo and the most professional musician we have had at Mama’s cafe,” said Johnny Rowan, owner of Mama’s cafe.
Harding has a smooth, mellow voice, and he sounds like Elvis or Harry Conick. He knows his strengths and he mixes a lot of humor in his performances,” Rowan said.
“Music is an art form to me,” Harding said. He plays jazz and blues because it is thoughtful, soulful and feeling-oriented music you can relate to either because you are happy, in love, sad or lonely. Blues has a universal message to human beings and is not necessarily sad, Harding said.
Harding has played the guitar since he was 15 and he has gigged a lot in the Provo area, as well as all over the world. Last semester he went to China and played guitar at nightclubs in Shanghai. He was even on Chinese TV because the owner of the nightclub was a Chinese movie star.
Harding has also played in the Philippines, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.
Harding considers himself a full-time musician even though he his still finishing up school at BYU. He gigs between two and four days a week, and in addition to that he teaches guitar. He plays at Sundance over the weekends.
After he graduates in April, he will keep touring.
I have played at Mama’s about 15 times before, Harding said. He used to play more classical folk music, but has lately switched over to jazz and blues.
Harding knows his audience and he thinks it will be packed at Mama’s Monday night. There is certainly good reason for Mama’s to be packed.
