Matt Vashlishan Bio

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 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, the Akai EWI (electric wind instrument), and assorted obscure woodwinds. He composes original music for small and large jazz ensembles as well as writing arrangements for these groups. Matt was previously a member of the Dave Liebman Expansions Quintet, performing and recording on multiple woodwinds, as well as producing several projects for the group. He has performed with the Darcy James Argue Secret Society, Phil Woods, Phil Markowitz, Vic Juris, Ian Froman, Adam Nussbaum, and countless others. 

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