Matt White uses his source material – age-old hymns and blues – not as bricks to build a mortuary, but as the basis for an entirely new structure.

- Downbeat Magazine

Trumpeter, Composer, Educator, and technologist Dr. Matthew White is Associate Professor, Chair of Jazz Studies, and Director of CSAM at the University of South Carolina School of Music. He holds degrees from the University of North Florida and The University of Miami and has appeared on numerous albums, radio broadcasts, and television shows, performing and composing music for artists as varied as: Rihanna, Becca Stevens, Michael Dease, Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Oscar DeLeon, Duranice Pace, Charlie Peacock, the Czech Republic Arts Ministry, and Jeff Coffin, in addition to various other artists, ensembles, symphonies, and big bands.

A 2019 Guggenheim Fellow in Music Composition and the 2023 - 2027 SCArts Music Composition fellow, Matt’s recent works have been heavily influenced by southern folk music traditions, particularly those of the Gullah Geechee people of the Coastal Carolinas. In addition to contemporizing folk songs and oral histories, Matt does extensive work recording and archiving the songs and stories of Gullah elders in the region. He has engineered recordings for the “Free and Equal Project” in partnership with the NEA, and artists Ron Daise, and Dave Douglas. Additionally active as a researcher, Matt recently negotiated a partnership between SCETV and USC to be the home of the Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz Archive, which includes 80 seasons of audio programs and over 5000 documents. This project was supported by a $10,000 archival grant awarded by the Grammy Museum in 2025.

Matt was a keynote speaker at the 2017 National Association of Leadership Educators Conference and a finals judge at the 2019 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition.

Matt is the director of USC’s Left Bank Big Band. The ensemble has performed at the Savannah, Umbria (Italy), and Vienne (France) Jazz Festivals, and backed Michael Dease, Mimi Jones, Nicole Zuraitis, Mimi Jones, and Rodney Whitaker. In 2026, Left Bank was one of ten ensembles in the United States invited to perform at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Collegiate Jazz Championships. 

With reverence and unhushed abandon, Lowcountry extends legacies that, however threatened or overlooked, are still very much alive

– The Wall Street Journal

Matt is a Bach Trumpet and Patrick Mouthpiece performing artist. His recent album, Lowcountry, was staged at Spoleto 2024 by a 23-person ensemble, including Gullah Elders, a string octet, and guest soloist Chris Potter. “Songs of Protest,” a collaboration with the Reconstruction Era National Park and the Penn Center, was featured at Penn’s 2024 Heritage Days. His newest album Dolly, a reimagining the early music of Dolly Parton, will be released in 2026.