Jazz Festival Workshop with Matthew Whitaker
Clinic Featuring Matthew Whitaker
Born in 2001, Matthew Whitaker’s love for playing music began at age 3, after his grandfather gave him a small Yamaha keyboard. At 9, Matthew began teaching himself how to play the Hammond B3 organ. Four years later, he became the youngest artist to be endorsed by Hammond—in its 80+ year history. He was also named a Yamaha Artist at 15, becoming the youngest musician to join the stellar group of jazz pianists.
He’s toured both in the US and abroad, performing on prestigious stages around the country including Apollo Theater, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts, SF Jazz Center, Monterey Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival and at international venues in France, Italy, Germany, Indonesia, UK, Australia, Switzerland, Portugal, Japan, Spain, Morocco and South Korea to name a few.
Matthew’s television appearances include FOX TV’s Showtime at the Apollo, the Today Show documentary series “Boys Changing the World,” the Harry Connick Jr Show an appearance on the syndicated TV talk show Ellen and a segment on the most watched news magazine on television 60 Minutes!
In 2017, he was named 1 of the 17 people to watch in New Jersey by The Record, one of New Jersey’s largest newspapers and add to Crain’s Business New York breakout list of 20 under 20 as a performing artist.
In 2018, The Root added Matthew to its list of 1 of 25 Young Futurist Leaders and was named as 1 of 7 rising stars for 2018 by USA Today network’s 201 Magazine. Receipt of The Harlem Stage Emerging Artist Award.
2019 & 2020, Matthew was a winner of The ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award for his original compositions “Emotions & Underground!”
Discography:
Outta The Box – 2017 Jazz Foundation of America
Now Hear This – 2019 Resilience Music Alliance