Matthew Shipp (born December 7, 1960) is an American avant-garde jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader.[1][2][3] He began playing piano at five years old.[5] Shipp was strongly attracted to jazz, but also played in rock groups while in high school. Shipp attended the University of Delaware for "a couple years" before dropping out.[6] He opted instead to live with his parents and focus on practicing, though he frequently traveled to Philadelphia to pick up gigs as a cocktail pianist and to study with Dennis Sandole Read more on Last.fm