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Matt Dwonszyk is a Connecticut-born, New York-based, bassist, composer, arranger, bandleader and educator.

 

He can regularly be found with drummer Jonathan Barber’s Vision Ahead, trios by pianist Jon Davis and saxophonist Julieta Eugenio, and saxophonist Sarah Hanahan’s quartet. He also leads his namesake ensemble, the Dwonztet.

 

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Dwonszyk began playing the electric bass at age eleven. At the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts High School, he switched to upright bass. He then attended the Jackie McLean-founded Artists Collective after-school program, directed by the sax legend’s son, René.

 

Dwonszyk then continued his studies at the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford. There, Dwonszyk developed a profound rapport with trombonist Steve Davis and bassist Nat Reeves, whose insight led to a career as a top-call bassist in his native Connecticut.

 

After graduating with a Bachelor’s of Music in Jazz Studies from UHart, Dwonszyk obtained a Master’s of Music at SUNY Purchase College in New York.

 

In his second year at SUNY, he moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This led to performances at legendary jazz venues like Smalls, Smoke, Minton’s, Zinc Bar, Birdland, and the Jazz Standard.

 

He went on to make many recorded appearances, including on tenor saxophonist Jovan Alexandre’s 2015 debut, Collective Consciousness, alongside Barber, pianist Taber Gable, and guitarist Andrew Renfroe.

 

That year, Dwonszyk was accepted into the Bosyie Lowery Jazz Living Residency for his original compositions and was awarded in DownBeat Magazine for his arrangement of “What A Wonderful World.”

 

In 2018 — the year he released his debut album, Wonderful World, — Dwonszyk toured Russia as part of the Rainy Days Jazz Festival. In 2019, he toured through Canada with the Oleg Butman Trio. In 2020 with Jonathan Barber and Vision Ahead through the West Coast.

 

In 2022, he released A Year and a Day, recorded with his versatile, namesake ensemble, the Dwonztet. That year, with the Julieta Eugenio Trio, Dwonszyk won the 2022 DC JazzPrix Competition at the Washington, DC Jazz Festival. 

 

The following year, the Dwonztet performed at the Hartford Baby Grand Jazz Series, The Northampton Jazz Strut, Smalls Jazz Club, The Side Door Jazz Club, and the Poli Club. In 2024, they performed at the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, Hartford Jazz Festival, and Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival.

 

True to his roots, Dwonszyk’s latest album was 2024’s Donny Time: The Music of Don DePalma, an album-length tribute to Hartford’s late, great pianist — with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the DePalma Roy Scholarship.

 

Since 2015, Dwonszyk has been a substitute teacher at the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz. Every summer since 2017, he has taught at Bennie Wallace’s BackCountry Jazz Program and Litchfield Jazz Camp.

 

Since 2020, he has taught jazz bass at Manchester Community College and Central Connecticut State College; at the latter, Dwonszyk also teaches jazz history. 

 

In 2025, Dwonszyk will perform and record in Buenos Aires, Argentina; his next album — his fourth as a leader — will be recorded live at the Side Door Jazz Club. With his Dwonztet, he will perform July 26 at the Litchfield Jazz Festival. He will also be teaching jazz bass at Amherst College.