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Matt Merewitz
Matt Merewitz is a music publicist with specialties in new media and traditional print/radio/television. He is a former freelance music journalist and radio broadcaster.
About Me
Originally from the Washington, DC Metro area, Matt Merewitz been involved in jazz in
some form since the tender age of 14. The jazz spark for me came in middle school
when he began taking saxophone lessons with Jim Carroll, an alumnus of the Woody
Herman Orchestra and at the time, member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks
Orchestra. A concert by that ensemble playing the music of Miles Davis and Gil Evans
(conducted by NEA Jazz Master and noted jazz educator David Baker), inspired him to
stick with jazz through middle school, high school, and college.
At a certain point in college, faced with the prospect of years of practice to maybe
attain a level of proficiency like that of his idols, Merewitz decided his time was better
spent promoting jazz as a writer, radio broadcaster and promoter. While pursuing a
minor in jazz performance at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Merewitz
became much more involved in behind-the-scenes aspects
of the music industry (writing, joining the college radio station, WRCT and eventually
booking concerts on campus in a venue called The Underground). He spent close to
two full years at WRCT-FM and served as jazz director, general music director and
publicity director).
Matt's passion for music has landed him jobs at the Smithsonian Institution, XM
Satellite Radio, WDUQ-FM in Pittsburgh, WRTI-FM in Philadelphia and the notable
jazz publicity boutique, DL Media. While at DL Media, under the tutelage and
mentorship of veteran jazz publicist and industry insider Don Lucoff, Matt directed
publicity campaigns for artists including saxophonists Frank Foster, Bennie Maupin
and Miguel Zenon; guitarists Nels Cline, Nguyen Le and Kurt Rosenwinkel; pianists
Paul Bley, Alan Pasqua and Aaron Parks; drummers Kendrick Scott and Jeff Tain
Watts; bassists Todd Sickafoose and percussionists Adam Rudolph and Steven Kroon,
among many others.
While at DL, Matt also oversaw publicity campaigns for DL Media clients such as
Concord Records, Monterey Jazz Festival Records, Justin Time Records,
Cryptogramophone Records, Marsalis Music and Blue Note Records, among others.
In the Fall of 2007, concurrent to working with DL Media, with Lucoff's blessing, Matt
started his own business doing publicity for New York-based label Pi Recordings. His
first clients for Pi included AACM founding member and pianist Muhal Richard Abrams,
Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir Elsaffar, saxophonists Steve Lehman and Rudresh
Mahanthappa and guitarist Marc Ribot.
Initially naming the company JazzClinic Media (after his college radio show, The Jazz
Clinic), in Summer 2008, he renamed the firm, Fully Altered Media and began taking
on a number of new clients including the Chicago-based drummer and festival
producer Mike Reed, Philadelphia arts presenter Ars Nova Workshop, multi-reedist
Jessica Lurie and others.
If you are a musician with compelling music and a good story, he'd like to hear from
you.