short bio

matt niedbalski is a musician and composer based in upstate ny. His primary instrument is the drums and he finds himself mostly playing improvised music. some projects he is involved in include gnp, (a co-lead trio with pianist tyler giroux and bassist dylan perrillo), charles cornell, the giroux brothers, dylan perrillo orchestra, and the vin mott blues band. matt formed a trio with saxophonist adam siegel and bassist jason emmond that is often booked as the “matt niedbalski trio”. matt has been hosting a monthly concert series at the park theater in glens falls ny since 2022 and is featured on over a dozen recordings to date. in addition to performing and composing, matt also mixes and masters recordings.

my journey so far in my own words

hi there. thanks for checking out my site. i’ve tried for years to write about myself in the third person and can’t do it. here is a stream of consciousness jumbled mess of my history playing music. i left some parts out but you’ll get the gist.

i’m matt. i play drums. my mothers side of the family had music throughout its roots. my mom’s great aunt was a vocalist who sang irish folk music on wrgb in schenectady in the 1920s, her father was a jazz bassist and my uncle plays the drums. i caught the bug watching him play and when i was 2 years old was given my first kit. fast forward a bit and i was taking formal drum lessons with ted mackenzie and starting to play with local jazz ensembles. some of my first gigs at age 13 were with school friends playing real book charts at coffee shops.

i was very lucky that my high school band director was a jazz bassist and noticed my interest before i was even a student of his. i started to sit in with a local guitarist tony jenkins and was offered what i considered my first “real gig” because the other musicians were 45+ years my age. this started a musical relationship with tony up until he died in 2015.

in the fall of 2012 i began my studies at william paterson university with a focus on jazz. i met and played with a bunch of great people, students and faculty. i played some gigs with professors including steve laspina and rich perry. i went on to record an album called “people and places” by sam javitch, a classmate and great pianist which featured rich. once, i played a tiny jam session gig with duane eubanks and felt things were moving in the right direction.

while living in nj i found myself mostly playing on the blues circuit with a great vocalist/harp player vin mott. we went all over the place, and played anywhere that would give us work from tiny hole in the wall bars, festivals, restaurants and the greatest bar to ever exist. the great notch inn. vin moved to texas for years, came back and we still play to this day.

during my time in nj i also traveled back to my home in upstate ny to keep the fire burning with all my talented friends up that way. regular gigs at speakeasy 518 (rip) and 9 maple. toured around and recorded albums with charles cornell, giroux brothers and dylan perrillo orchestra. i met tarik shah right around this time in 2019 and started to play with him.

one extremely memorable gig was traveling down to nyc to play for margaret grimes (henry grimes wife) memorial service. there i had the pleasure to play with tarik’s “older brother” alvin “wink” flythe and an incredible vocalist joy brown as well as tim regusis on piano. tarik has introduced me to some incredible musicians/compositions and is always down to drop some knowledge.

tyler giroux, dylan perrillo and myself decided to form our own trio after years of backing other musicians and called it “gnp”. we were about to go into the studio to record and then covid happened and the world shut down. i didn’t have any musical interactions for a few months and then we got together and rehearsed in my parents basement. that felt really weird and great all at the same time. we went into the studio and recorded our debut album “codes”

gnp played with sheila jordan for the quebec city jazz fest live streamed from caffe lena. i talked to sheila about charlie parker, herbie nichols and gigs in the 1950s. life changing moment. around this time i also began playing with chuck lamb, who is mostly known for his work with the brubeck brothers and has a monthy residency at caffe lena. through chuck i’ve had the pleasure to work with lucas pino, roxy coss and john fedchock.

in 2021 i started a concert series at the park theater after getting a phone call from the executive director chris who wanted to rent drums. while informing him about the differences in bass drum sizes he found out i play jazz and here we are, still going strong in 2026.

in 2022 i formed a trio with adam siegel, who i’ve known and admired since i was 18 and a bassist jason emmond who had moved to town shortly beforehand. i hired him on a gig without ever meeting or hearing him and we’ve been playing ever since.

one of my oldest musical relationships is with charles cornell (yes, the guy that makes piano content on youtube) and steven kirsty. we had met at a jazz camp when we were teenagers and since have gone on a crazy ride which has included our own gigs, playing with a vocalist michael panza, playing gigs in florida and most recently recording video content out at charles’ home studio in colorado. we’ve recorded 3 albums together and have been featured on charles’ youtube channel.

in 2024 i rekindled a relationship with a great bassist malik mclaurine. we’ve been performing together at hutton brickyards at a mid week jam they run through the summer.

currently i freelance with many different musicians based in upstate ny and nj, mix and master music, am a husband and father and work for a live production company. my life is constantly moving and while it probably causes my pre mature grey hair, i wouldn’t have it any other way. hope to see you at a gig sometime - mn