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MATTHEW SHELL
Down to earth, easy to work with music producer/engineer raised in Maryland. Prolific guitarist on a GRAMMY winning album. Reliable child of God.
Full bio:
Matthew Shell is an acclaimed music producer, audio engineer, guitarist, and pianist from Bethesda, MD. His production styles include alternative jazz, chill afrobeat, pop, rock, R&B, and soothing instrumental music.
In 2022, Shell and GRAMMY® nominee Arun Shenoy released the Dolby ATMOS mixed jazz album "Elemental". In the same year, Shell played guitar on Masa Takumi's song "Kaze" from the album "Sakura" which won best Global Music Album at the GRAMMY® Awards.
In 2023, Shell and longtime collaborator Kenny McNeil released the Dolby ATMOS mixed alternative jazz album "We'll Find a Way II", a chill Afrobeat style ode to Shell's mom's heritage from South Africa and Zimbabwe, where she was born and grew up respectively. This album was followed by the afrobeat single "My Ride or Die" featuring McNeil's vocal artistry, Shell's production, and guest artist Douglas Lira's amazing sax playing, among others.
Get to know Matthew Shell via this Sirius XM interview clip with Maggie Linton
Demo Reel
Also in 2023, Shell produced and engineered albums for Marcus Johnson, GRAMMY winner Joanie Leeds, and Michael Peloso, among others. Johnson's new album is volume 3 of the “FLO Chill” album series, and after only a month has 60,000+ Spotify streams and growing. The first album in Johnson's FLO series titled "FLO (For the Love Of) Chill" reached #2 on Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Chart in 2009. In the same year, Shell was the Pro-Tools engineer on O.A.R.’s album “Rain or Shine” that reached #5 on the Independent Albums Chart and also #7 on the US Alternative Albums Chart.
Other of his accomplishments include producing for GRAMMY® Nominee Carolyn Malachi, and her song “Beautiful Dreamer” being featured on FOX 5 DC Morning News in 2011, Shell being featured as a producer on GRAMMY.com in 2012 for his album “Freedom” with jazz flautist Trey Eley, Shell assisting as engineer on the song “It’s a Jungle Out Here” for 7-time GRAMMY® winner Philip Lawrence as featured on the “Rio 2” film soundtrack in 2014, and the music video for "Genesis" being featured by Steven Slate on his Slate Digital YouTube channel in 2013.
Shell has produced and engineered remixes for Selena Gomez, DJ Flexx, and WPGC 95.5, and has produced, engineered, and/or collaborated with GRAMMY® winners Masa Takumi, Philip Lawrence, Paul Jackson Jr., Jeff Lorber, Wouter Kellerman, Ricky Kej, Laura Sullivan, Jim Kimo West, Rocio Marron, Steve Pullara, and Kabir Sehgal, among others.
Learn more about Shell from Jonathan Widran's album review for "We'll Find A Way II" and from the rest of the content seen on this page.
A personal message from Matthew Shell:
My inspiration as a producer comes from my everyday life. The feel of the music always represents what I and my collaborators are going through and feeling in that moment. Also, I am inspired by my African heritage and audio engineering. Specifically, I've been adding more African percussion to everything in honor of my heritage, but also I know that it will sound amazing when mixed in Dolby ATMOS Immersive audio. To produce specifically for ATMOS with percussion surrounding the listener, this simply brings me joy. The first song where I did this ATMOS production mixing style with lots of percussion was with Arun Shenoy on our last album's title track "Elemental".
Noteworthy releases:
Shell released his album "Spiritual Relationship: The Deeper Meaning" in 2015 with the music on the album conceived by Shell over a period of 15 years.
In 2017, Shell released an hour-long jazz opus titled "First Light". This complex arrangement features 17 key changes and 20 tempo changes. It was arranged by Shell in a single twelve-hour session, then over the course of a month, vocalist Kenny Wesley and a team of session musicians helped to bring the arrangement to life in an organic way.
Other notable album productions by Shell include "Towards New Beginnings I & II: Songs of Healing", "Contemplation" (with 1.5 million+ streams on Spotify), "New Perspective", "Victorious", "Live Vibe: The Humble Beginnings", and The Groove Project's most recent albums including "Flights of Fantasy" and "Volume 2: The Winds of Change" which was made into a music film with video editor Ken Lasso featuring pianists Jordan Rudess, Fahir Atakoglu, Derek Sherinian, Adam Holzman, and Ed Roth.
MATTHEW SHELL'S CREDITS AS A GUEST GUITARIST/MUSICIAN
Masa Takumi - Kaze (feat. Ron Korb, Nadeem Majdalany & Matthew Shell) - From the GRAMMY® winning album Sakura
Melina - The Magic of Christmas (feat. Matthew Shell & Donna Britton Bukevicz)
Substantial - MLK (Dream Big) 2.0 (Ft. See King & Matthew Shell)
Marcus Johnson - Industrious Passion (ft. Masa Takumu & Matthew Shell)
Marcus Johnson - Latin Funk (feat. Matthew Shell)
Marcus Johnson - Another Planet (feat. Matthew Shell)
Marcus Johnson - Shalom (feat. Matthew Shell)
Michael Peloso - Rewind (feat. Marisa Frantz & Matthew Shell)
Michael Peloso - That Will Be Me (feat. Marisa Frantz & Matthew Shell)
REMIXES
Selena Gomez - Come and Get It (WPGC 95.5 GoGo Remix feat. DJ Flexx, 4DC, and Matthew Shell)
Marcus Johnson - Chillaxin [MTS Remix]
Marcus Johnson - Cherish the Journey [MTS Remix] (feat. Paul Jackson Jr. & Greg Adams)
Marcus Johnson - Fortunate (Future Chill Remix) [ft. Jawan, Masa Takumi, Erik Fredriksen & Matthew Shell]
Marcus Johnson - This Place Hotel (Future Chill Remix) [feat. Erik Fredriksen & Matthew Shell]
Marcus Johnson - Mas Que Nada (Future Chill Remix) [ft. Erik Fredriksen & Matthew Shell]
Molly Moore - Natural Disaster (MTS Remix)
Molly Moore - Natural Disaster (Raveolution & MTS Global Remix) in collaboration with Ricky Kej
ORIGINAL SONG PRODUCTIONS WITH VOCAL ARTISTS
Carolyn Malachi - Beautiful Dreamer
Matthew Shell & Kenny McNeil - My Ride or Die
Gabrielle Pisani - In Time
Nelly's Echo - Calling For You
Art Aure - Right Now
Art Aure - Good Times
Art Aure - California Sunset
Todos Son Bienvenidos (Presentando a Judy Hunter)
Collin Brooks - Stop, Shut Up
Drew Olivia Tillman - Places
Matthew Shell - Warriors (feat. Collin Brooks, Substantial & Kenny Wesley)
Matthew Shell - My Baby (feat. Art Aure, Honore' & D.C. Don Juan)
Kenny McNeil - Another Way to Get to Heaven
Kenny McNeil - We'll Find A Way
Kenny McNeil - Inspire Me (feat. Alisha Endre)
G.P. Jackson, Javier Starks, Bomani Armah & Rufus Fly - The Moment
Javier Starks & Bella - Alright Now
Taurus Soul - Highest Praise
Danielle Withers & Javier Starks - Believe
VICU - Back To The Future Love
Matthew Shell - Dance Shake (feat. Art Aure & VICU)
Matthew Shell - Crime Never Sleeps (feat. Lonnie Park)
Matthew Shell - Boss Music (feat. Alexis D'Souza and GRAMMY Winners Ricky Kej and Rocio Marron)
Jake Elmendorf - I'm My Own Fan
Kathy Sanborn - Love Will Light The Way
Joseph A. Sealey Jr. - It's A Great Day (ft. Collin Brooks & IhsAn Bilal)
Jake Elmendorf - Not Forgotten
COVER SONG PRODUCTIONS WITH VOCAL ARTISTS
Kenny Wesley - Rock With You
Tiffany Alvord - Silent Night
Gabby Nguyen - Love Yourself
Zane Latta - The Christmas Song
Lana Lubany - Chirstmas To Me
VICU - Not My Type At All
Gabby Pisani - Tidal Wave
Jake Elmendorf - Stay
Matthew Shell's songwriting credits on third party sites:
https://www.jwvibe.com/single-post/masa-takumi-sakura
https://www.jwvibe.com/single-post/2019/10/03/the-groove-project-takes-flight
https://www.jwvibe.com/single-post/matthew-shell-arun-shenoy-elemental
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/matthew-shell-mn0000370730/credits
https://carolynmalachi.com/track/524837/beautiful-dreamer
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/matthew-shell-making-art-with-substance-matthew-shell-by-kathy-sanborn
https://rockdafuqout.com/2015/11/25/matthew-shell-drops-a-sonic-beauty/
https://www.soultracks.com/album-review-matthew-shell-spiritual-relationship-the-deeper-meaning
https://soundcloud.com/jazzygirlrock/wpfw-evening-jazz-keanna-faircloth-matthew-shell-and-friends?in=jazzygirlrock/sets/keanna-faircloth-interviews
https://soundcloud.com/jazzygirlrock/k-faircloth-midday-jazz-1?in=jazzygirlrock/sets/keanna-faircloth-interviews
https://soundcloud.com/jazzygirlrock/wpfw-midday-jazz-interview-1?in=jazzygirlrock/sets/keanna-faircloth-interviews
https://www.soultracks.com/first-listen-matthew-shell-dance-shake
http://thelodgemastering.blogspot.com/2013/06/matthew-shell-brings-new-album.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_(Matthew_Shell_and_Arun_Shenoy_song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_(Trey_Eley_%26_Matthew_Shell_album)
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/matthew-shell
https://lyrics.az/amp/matthew-shell/-/beautiful-dreamer.html
https://rockdafuqout.com/2015/05/06/molly-moore-gets-an-emotional-remix/
https://www.kickkicksnare.com/new-releases/2015/05/07/molly-moore-natural-disaster-mts-remix
https://www.blogtalkradio.com/hybridjazzfromtrishhennessey/2013/05/28/hybrid-jazz--warun-shenoy-matthew-shell
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/genesis/prweb10684675.htm
http://worldjazznews.blogspot.com/2013/04/jazz-music-producer-matthew-shell.html
https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/a053b0c94f022357589bbf5744a5af2d/
https://www.facebook.com/stevenslate/posts/265350650181929
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm3i2sUQ_C8
https://narked.com/artists/matthewshell/
Print press:
See below for Masa Takumi's Sakura Billboard Magazine ad.
Digital distribution links:
Apple Music - Matthew Shell
Amazon Music - Matthew Shell
TIDAL - Matthew Shell
Deezer - Matthew Shell
Pandora - Matthew Shell
Napster - Matthew Shell
