Home » Jazz Musicians » Matt Pivec

Matt Pivec

Saxophonist Matt Pivec has established himself as a versatile musician. As a performer of jazz and popular music, Matt has worked with Ray Charles, The Temptations, Peter Erskine, Maria Schneider, the Rochester Philharmonic Pops Orchestra, and the national touring companies of Hairspray, 42nd Street, and The Producers. As a band leader and soloist, Matt has performed at festivals and venues throughout the United States. Equally adept as a classical saxophonist, he collaborated with composer Michael Cunningham on a 1999 recording of Cunningham’s recital pieces for saxophone. During the project, Matt demonstrated his versatility by recording works on soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones. In 2003, he gave the world premiere performance of Michael Hay’s "Blues in Three Parts."

Matt received the Doctor of Musical Arts (Saxophone Performance and Literature) and Master of Music (Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media) degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. While at Eastman, Matt studied with Ramon Ricker. He performed with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Eastman Graduate Saxophone Quartet, and served as lead alto saxophone of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble. He received several student honors including the outstanding blues/pop/rock soloist from Downbeat magazine, the Arts Leadership Certificate, and the outstanding Teaching Assistant award. Matt received the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. There, he performed with the UWEC Wind Ensemble and served as lead alto saxophone of the nationally acclaimed Jazz Ensemble I, which was recognized twice as the top collegiate jazz ensemble by Downbeat Magazine.

Currently, Matt is the Instructor of Saxophone and Coordinator of Jazz Studies at California State University

Gear

Selmer Mark IV Meyer 7


Tags

7
Album Review

Sean Imboden: Communal Heart

Read "Communal Heart" reviewed by Dean Nardi


Sean Imboden's Large Ensemble Has a Communal Heart Sean Imboden was bitten by the big band bug early on. It is understandable. Both his parents were musicians, and his father taught him to play clarinet when he was in sixth grade. As a teenager, besides playing in middle school and high school bands, he sometimes sat in on gigs with his father's ensemble. After college, he moved to New York City and became involved with the touring Broadway show circuit, ...

Read more articles

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Communal Heart

Self Released
2025

buy

Facing the Mirror

Self Produced
2009

buy

One by One by One

From: Facing the Mirror
By Matt Pivec

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.