Matthew Jamal is a New York–based interdisciplinary artist and composer working across sound, movement, and electroaccoustic manipulation. Their practice explores improvisation as a compositional system and embodied method which he developed while busking in Washington D.C and New York from the ages of 14-18. While the sounds influenced by his studies around the world are potent, his work remains rooted in Black American traditions. Their performance is site responsive - Moving and creating live loops that change with each performance based on the stage, environment, acoustics, and audience members.
Alongside his independent practice, Jamal has collaborated across music, dance, and film with artists including Madonna, Benjamin Clementine, Obongjayar, J’Nai Bridges, Jason Moran, and Jacob Jonas The Company. He has appeared at institutions and festivals such as the Newport Jazz Festival, the San Francisco International Film Festival, and the Gucci Film Festival, and his work has been featured in Vogue Ukraine, Vanity Fair, and Notion Magazine. Rejecting genre as a fixed construct, Jamal describes his work as queer. He holds a BM in Classical and Jazz Double Bass Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. He is a self taught multi instrumentalist.