Matthew Evan Taylor

Dr. Matthew Evan Taylor is an AfroPnuematic composer, multi-instrumentalist, and improviser who has “…wrestled with the societal boundaries of Black artistry only to blast them apart…” (Dr. Kori Hill, I Care if You Listen) through creating music that is “insistent and defiant… envelopingly hypnotic” (Alan Young, Lucid Culture). An artist at the intersection of concert music, free improvisation, and multi-disciplinary performance, Taylor has worked with many leading artists and ensembles including the Metropolis Ensemble, Turtle Island String Quartet featuring Cyrus Chestnut, Elliott Sharp, dancer Laurel Jenkins, and visual artist Dannielle Tegeder, in front of audiences at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the World Saxophone Congress 17, CineJazz Film Music Festival Paris, and the Perez Art Museum Miami. A “risk taker” (Neil De La Flor, Huffington Post), Taylor’s work predicated on connection and the embrace of humanity through its exuberance, frailty, virtues, and vices. In each piece, Taylor strives to express the capaciousness of lived experiences within an ever-expanding universe; an experience that is bounded by breath and spirit.

Taylor is based in Oakland CA and teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.