Anna Katherine Barnett-Hart
Matthew J. Marantz
Jazz Saxophone
Music for Youth
Scholarship Recipient
Cedar Hill, Texas
Matthew J. Marantz, from Cedar Hill, Texas, is a recent
graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts.
He began playing the alto sax at age 11 and was recognized when he
was 14 by Down Beat magazine with the Jazz Soloist Award. He won the
award four years in a row, was featured on the cover of Student Music
Awards Magazine and has now become the most honored student in the history
of Down Beat Magazine Awards with a total of 22 awards to his name.
He was named the best instrumental jazz soloist at the Monterey Jazz
Festival in Monterey, California in 2001 and 2002 in the combo division.
This spring Matt performed with Billy Taylor at the Kennedy Center and at the White House, with the Gibson/Baldwin Grammy Big Band in Los Angeles, and at the Monterey Educational Jazz Festival. Matt was a Texas Music Educators Association Texas All-State jazz musician playing in the All State Jazz Ensemble in 2002, 2003 and 2004. He has placed with regional and state UIL State Awards for his solo work in classical music as well. Matt says he grew up in a musical atmosphere: his mother is a classical pianist and his father is a jazz trumpet player. "I am inspired when I hear someone play who is reaching for the highest form of musical creativity," Matt says. "Some of the people who inspire me are Charlie Parker, Keith Jarrett, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Miles Davis and Jimmy Heath." Matt will continue his studies at the Manhattan School of Music.