About
AJ Matson, also known as Jamf, is a passionate singer-songwriter artist from Cincinnati, Ohio. With jazz and hip-hop influences, he seeks to bring attention to mental health issues through his music, telling his story to help others understand and deal with their own struggles.
His grandmother would play a classical radio station on her way to driving him to pre-school and elementary school every day. This got him interested in learning and taking piano lessons at the age of 8. He found himself starting to write music at 11 years old. At that age, and for many years, it was just a hobby that he found from having taken piano lessons for a few years and being in his second year of playing clarinet in band class. At 14, he started to get into finding resources to study music theory on his own, which was around the same time he had a breakthrough in his piano playing and saw fast improvement. He started getting very involved musically during high school; he found himself needing an outlet to play piano for every extra-curricular that needed a pianist, such as musicals and the jazz band. He also felt a strong need to work on his craft and learn as much as he could, so he took every music class he could and never turned down any music related opportunities. When he was around the age of 16, he started to not see a life where he was without music. This heavily influenced his future plans and college decision to apply to and attend the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
He started getting into music writing because of his love for the band Yes and his desire to create in the same artistic vein that they did. He took more direct inspiration from artists like Tyler, the Creator, Mac Miller, and Still Woozy, who were his introductions into the world of more modern music.
“When I was 16,” he says, “I found myself in this weird limbo of the artistic curve where I went from thinking I knew everything to discovering there’s a lot I didn’t even know I should know. It was daunting and felt like I had become aware of how deficient artistically I was. It was daunting to the point of feeling I didn’t know if it was achievable, but I knew I couldn’t let these thoughts and feelings stop me. When making big future and college decisions, I was very tempted at first to take a safer route. Major in business and focus on that, putting my music career to the side. My piano teacher, who I had spent the bulk of my music studies with, was trying to push me in that direction as well. This was until I found my ‘go-for-it’ mentality. The basis is, ‘would you rather risk it all, putting in all of your effort and crash and burn knowing you tried your absolute best, or take a safe route, being left wondering for the rest of your life what success could have been.’ I’m not sure I will ever get to a point in living of beating this inner turmoil, but through my continual artistic growth and songwriting, as well as the musicians I am very grateful to be building relationships with in new environments of my life, I have found myself coming to better terms with the battle between my mind and body. I think the biggest resolution of a possible ‘final conflict’ is understanding that I won’t ever stop growing. I know I am failing if I ever find myself introspectively looking at myself 6 months in the past and not thinking, ‘that version of me had a lot to learn and I am a lot more glad to be where I am now.’”
AJ notes that money seems to be the incentive for life in our society. It seems like status is too heavily based on someone's wealth. He thinks that the world would be a much better place if helping others was at the forefront, which is what he aims to do with his art. Everything he does to reach a wider audience isn’t to bring in the most money but to work on his mission to touch the most lives in a positive way. “I want to help people with my music the same way my music helped me” he says. “If I was completely selfish, I wouldn’t see a need to release my music once it has helped me with my own mental health. I decide to release my music and promote it with the goal to reach and help others understand themselves better and gain their own new perspectives on life.”
His grandmother would play a classical radio station on her way to driving him to pre-school and elementary school every day. This got him interested in learning and taking piano lessons at the age of 8. He found himself starting to write music at 11 years old. At that age, and for many years, it was just a hobby that he found from having taken piano lessons for a few years and being in his second year of playing clarinet in band class. At 14, he started to get into finding resources to study music theory on his own, which was around the same time he had a breakthrough in his piano playing and saw fast improvement. He started getting very involved musically during high school; he found himself needing an outlet to play piano for every extra-curricular that needed a pianist, such as musicals and the jazz band. He also felt a strong need to work on his craft and learn as much as he could, so he took every music class he could and never turned down any music related opportunities. When he was around the age of 16, he started to not see a life where he was without music. This heavily influenced his future plans and college decision to apply to and attend the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
“When I was 16,” he says, “I found myself in this weird limbo of the artistic curve where I went from thinking I knew everything to discovering there’s a lot I didn’t even know I should know. It was daunting and felt like I had become aware of how deficient artistically I was. It was daunting to the point of feeling I didn’t know if it was achievable, but I knew I couldn’t let these thoughts and feelings stop me. When making big future and college decisions, I was very tempted at first to take a safer route. Major in business and focus on that, putting my music career to the side. My piano teacher, who I had spent the bulk of my music studies with, was trying to push me in that direction as well. This was until I found my ‘go-for-it’ mentality. The basis is, ‘would you rather risk it all, putting in all of your effort and crash and burn knowing you tried your absolute best, or take a safe route, being left wondering for the rest of your life what success could have been.’ I’m not sure I will ever get to a point in living of beating this inner turmoil, but through my continual artistic growth and songwriting, as well as the musicians I am very grateful to be building relationships with in new environments of my life, I have found myself coming to better terms with the battle between my mind and body. I think the biggest resolution of a possible ‘final conflict’ is understanding that I won’t ever stop growing. I know I am failing if I ever find myself introspectively looking at myself 6 months in the past and not thinking, ‘that version of me had a lot to learn and I am a lot more glad to be where I am now.’”
AJ notes that money seems to be the incentive for life in our society. It seems like status is too heavily based on someone's wealth. He thinks that the world would be a much better place if helping others was at the forefront, which is what he aims to do with his art. Everything he does to reach a wider audience isn’t to bring in the most money but to work on his mission to touch the most lives in a positive way. “I want to help people with my music the same way my music helped me” he says. “If I was completely selfish, I wouldn’t see a need to release my music once it has helped me with my own mental health. I decide to release my music and promote it with the goal to reach and help others understand themselves better and gain their own new perspectives on life.”
Photos by Alexx Foitzik