School of Music

Matt Hughes

Matt T Hughes, D.M.A.
Associate Professor, String Bass
Sallee 210
Email: MT-Hughes@wiu.edu

Since joining the Faculty at Western Illinois University in 2011 Bassist Matt Hughes has had the privilege of regular performances with WIU’s faculty jazz ensembles The Hopper Jazz’tet, The Post 6 Big Band and with the newly formed H.A.T. Trio with WIU colleagues George Turner and Whitney Ashe. He also has had the pleasure performing and recording new chamber works with WIU Chamber Players.

Hughes often performs with some of the area’s finest jazz musicians, is a frequent collaborator with the Central Illinois Jazz society and also brings guest artists to Macomb to perform at the “Jazz at the Pub” concert series which was established in 2019.

As a jazz performer he has toured and recorded with Betty Carter, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, The Cab Calloway Orchestra, and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Hughes has also worked as a sideman with many other musicians and groups including Butch Morris, Max Weinberg, Doc Severinsen, Lea Delaria, Erin McDougald, Cecil Paine and toured Central and South America as a “Jazz Ambassador” of the United States Information Agency. As a freelancer Hughes spent 16 years in New York City performing nightly in the city’s vibrant music scene.

He has performed a variety of historic music in venues around the world such as Carnegie Hall, The Lincoln Center, The Hollywood Bowl, The Library of Congress, The Musikverein, The Gewandhaus, The Blue Note jazz clubs in NYC and Japan, Bird Land Jazz Club, and the Acropolis in Athens Greece. He has toured extensively in the United States, and performed in more than 30 countries.

Hughes is a former member of the Kalamazoo, Lansing, Jackson, and Battle Creek symphony orchestras and also had opportunities to perform with the Ann Arbor Symphony, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the New York Repertory Orchestra, the Cincinnati Ballet and currently performs with the Heartland Festival Orchestra. He has premiered chamber works in New York City and here at Western Illinois University.