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Matt Vashlishan

Matt Vashlishan is a saxophonist and multi-woodwind instrumentalist from northeast Pennsylvania, USA. He holds a DMA from the University of Miami, MM from William Paterson University and a BM from the Eastman School of Music, all in saxophone performance. Matt is the Jazz Program Coordinator and Curator of the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, the Jazz Ensemble Director at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and Instructor of Jazz Saxophone at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

Matt directs the Water Gap Jazz Orchestra (previously the Phil Woods COTA Festival Orchestra) in Delaware Water Gap, PA, which is a professional large jazz ensemble comprised of local and international professionals, and  performs with many other groups and projects in the Tri-State area. In December of 2021, he directed the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany performing "A Phil Woods Legacy."

He is a skilled instrumentalist with professional ability to perform on alto and soprano saxes, piccolo, flute, alto flute, clarinet, and the Akai EWI (electric wind instrument). He composes original music for small and large jazz ensembles as well as writing arrangements for these groups.

Matt endorses Selmer saxophones, Drake mouthpieces, D’Addario reeds and instrument cables, and BG France ligatures.

Awards

2009 ASCAP young jazz composers award recipient

Gear

Matt endorses Selmer saxophones, Drake mouthpieces, D’Addario reeds and instrument cables, and BG France ligatures.


Tags

20
Album Review

Dave Liebman: Selflessness - The Music of John Coltrane

Read "Selflessness - The Music of John Coltrane" reviewed by Jack Bowers


It is always nice to have a goal in life, something that urges you to arise in the morning and face the day ahead. For saxophonist Dave Liebman, that goal means catching the “Trane" he has been chasing for more than sixty years--ever since, as a teenager, he first saw the legendary John Coltrane at Birdland in New York City. It is an admirable goal, made even more tantalizing because it is one that Liebman is quite sure he has ...

10
Album Review

Dave Liebman's Expansions: Selflessness - The Music of John Coltrane

Read "Selflessness - The Music of John Coltrane" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Finding one's inspiration in an iconic figure like John Coltrane presents a huge challenge for any musician. The sheer scope of the master's vision and the uniqueness of his instrumental voice can become overwhelming—particularly if the ultimate aim is to forge one's own path. But over a long and highly accomplished career, Dave Liebman has managed to do just that, even if it meant that for a time he had to break free of Coltrane's shadow by setting aside his ...

1
Album Review

Dave Liebman: Earth

Read "Earth" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Dopo Water (1997), Air (2006) e Fire (2016), Dave Liebman completa il ventennale progetto volto a rappresentare in musica i quattro elementi naturali che danno origine alla materia, il cui riferimento è comune alle antiche cosmogonie occidentali e orientali. Come alcuni ricorderanno al primo disco parteciparono Pat Metheny, Billy Hart e Cecil McBee; al secondo Walter Quintus e al terzo Kenny Werner, Dave Holland e Jack DeJohnette. Stavolta Liebman sviluppa la sua musica col suo quintetto Expansions ...

8
Album Review

The Len Pierro Jazz Orchestra: The Third Quarter

Read "The Third Quarter" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Flourtown, PA native Len Pierro unveils one monster big band album that will be reverberating well beyond the boundaries of Pennsylvania and from radio studios throughout the jazz landscape for quite a long time. The Third Quarter is The Len Pierro Jazz Orchestra's recent offering and what an offering of fresh original compositions and re-imagined jazz standards it is. The 63-year-old saxophonist has produced one heck of an album of traditional straight-ahead swinging jazz that defines what ...

5
Album Review

The Len Pierro Jazz Orchestra: The Third Quarter

Read "The Third Quarter" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Any big-band album that opens with a rollicking Four Brothers-style saxophone soli is all but guaranteed to capture one's ear and interest. As it turns out, the buoyant “Fill in the Gap," on which the sax section sparkles, is but the first of many sonic delights on The Third Quarter, a marvelous new CD by Philadelphia-based composer / arranger Len Pierro and his world-class Jazz Orchestra. Simply put, there are no discernible blemishes to mar a bright and picturesque tour ...

23
Album Review

Dave Liebman: Earth

Read "Earth" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


When saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Dave Liebman groks a musical vision, he dreams big and deep. “In the late 1990s," Liebman recalls, “I embarked on a project to musically depict manifestations of the four natural elements. In 1997 I recorded Water with Pat Metheny, Billy Hart and Cecil McBee; in 2006, I did Air with the late genius engineer Walter Quintus; fast forward to 2016 for Fire featuring Kenny Werner, Jack DeJohnette, and Dave Holland; finally, with my present group ...

14
Album Review

Dave Liebman: Earth

Read "Earth" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


It's taken over two tumultuous decades for Dave Liebman to fully realize and execute his poetic, elemental suite. Alongside Pat Metheny,Billy Hart, and Cecil McBee, Water: Giver of Life (Arkadia Jazz, 1997) birthed the the long journey. Teaming with violinist/sound engineer Walter Quintus for 2006's Air (Finetunes) led to 2016's free-jazz flame torch with Dave Holland, Kenny Werner, and Jack DeJohnette Fire (Jazzlines.) Wholly cognitive of his music's inert ability to rouse a myriad of cinematic possibilities and ...

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Primary Instrument

Saxophone, alto

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Field Theory

Pacific Coast Jazz
2021

buy

Selflessness - The...

Dot Time Records
2021

buy

Earth

Whaling City Sound
2020

buy

The Third Quarter

WalkingPath Records
2020

buy

No Such Thing

Origin Records
2010

buy

Fill In The Gap

From: The Third Quarter
By Matt Vashlishan

Videos

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