Mat Mathews
Encyclopedia
Mat Mathews, born Mathieu Hubert Wijnandts Schwarts (June 18, 1924 – February 12, 2009), was a Dutch
jazz
accordion
ist.
Mathews was born in The Hague
and learned to play accordion while the Netherlands was under Nazi rule during World War II
. After hearing Joe Mooney
on a radio broadcast after the war, he decided to begin playing jazz. From 1947 to 1950 he played with The Millers in Holland, and then moved to New York City
on March 1, 1951 with wife, Paulette Girard. They were married in Tripoli North Africa @ the consulate. They were there performing for the troops from 1950 - 1951. He moved into Paulette's mother's home @ 10 Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn NY and lived there with Paulette. Owl Eyes was their one of their co-writes which they gave to Jazzbo. He was a disc jockey who played Jazz late night. Mat performed on the Arthur Godfrey Hour. He formed a quartet there which included Herbie Mann
; he also played with Art Farmer
, Julius Watkins
, Joe Puma
, Oscar Pettiford
, Gigi Gryce
, Dick Katz
, Percy Heath
, and Kenny Clarke
. He played with Carmen McRae
in 1954-55 who was signed to Coral records after Paulette
bet Mat that she could get Carmen signed because she listened, unlike Mat who though he was not good enough to be playing with these people. In 1956 he played in the group The 4 Most with Al Cohn
, Gene Quill
, Hank Jones
and Mundell Lowe
and they recorded the track Ooh Baby It Scares Me by Paulette Girard.
Later in the 1950s and into the 1960s he worked primarily as a studio musician, and in 1964 he moved back to the Netherlands. There he continued work in studios as an arranger and producer, and recorded less as a player.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
ist.
Mathews was born in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
and learned to play accordion while the Netherlands was under Nazi rule during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After hearing Joe Mooney
Joe Mooney (musician)
Joe Mooney was an American jazz and pop accordionist and organist.-Biography:Mooney was born in Paterson, New Jersey, United States. Mooney went blind around age ten...
on a radio broadcast after the war, he decided to begin playing jazz. From 1947 to 1950 he played with The Millers in Holland, and then moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on March 1, 1951 with wife, Paulette Girard. They were married in Tripoli North Africa @ the consulate. They were there performing for the troops from 1950 - 1951. He moved into Paulette's mother's home @ 10 Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn NY and lived there with Paulette. Owl Eyes was their one of their co-writes which they gave to Jazzbo. He was a disc jockey who played Jazz late night. Mat performed on the Arthur Godfrey Hour. He formed a quartet there which included Herbie Mann
Herbie Mann
Herbert Jay Solomon , better known as Herbie Mann, was a Jewish American jazz flutist and important early practitioner of world music...
; he also played with Art Farmer
Art Farmer
Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...
, Julius Watkins
Julius Watkins
Julius Watkins was an American jazz musician, and one of the first jazz French horn players. He won the Down Beat critics poll in 1960 and 1961 for "miscellaneous instrument" with French horn named as the instrument....
, Joe Puma
Joe Puma
Joe Puma was an American jazz guitarist.Puma's first professional experience came with Joe Roland in 1949-50. He acted as a session musician for many jazz musicians of the 1950s, including Louie Bellson, Artie Shaw, Eddie Bert, Herbie Mann, Mat Mathews, Chris Connor, and Paul Quinichette; he also...
, Oscar Pettiford
Oscar Pettiford
Oscar Pettiford was an American jazz double bassist, cellist and composer known particularly for his pioneering work in bebop.-Biography:...
, Gigi Gryce
Gigi Gryce
Gigi Gryce was an American saxophonist, flautist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, educator, and big band bandleader.His performing career was relatively short and, in comparison to other musicians of his...
, Dick Katz
Dick Katz
Dick Katz was an American jazz pianist and arranger. He freelanced throughout much of his career, and worked in a number of ensembles. He co-founded Milestone Records in 1966 with Orrin Keepnews....
, Percy Heath
Percy Heath
Percy Heath was an American jazz bassist, brother to tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975...
, and Kenny Clarke
Kenny Clarke
Kenny Clarke , born Kenneth Spearman Clarke, nicknamed "Klook" and later known as Liaqat Ali Salaam, was a jazz drummer and an early innovator of the bebop style of drumming...
. He played with Carmen McRae
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics that made her memorable...
in 1954-55 who was signed to Coral records after Paulette
Paulette
La Paulette was the name commonly given to the "annual right" , a special tax levied by the French Crown during the Ancien Régime. It was first instituted on December 12, 1604 by King Henry IV's minister Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully...
bet Mat that she could get Carmen signed because she listened, unlike Mat who though he was not good enough to be playing with these people. In 1956 he played in the group The 4 Most with Al Cohn
Al Cohn
Al Cohn was an American jazz saxophonist and arranger and composer.-Biography:Alvin Gilbert Cohn was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was initially known in the 1940s for playing in Woody Herman's Second Herd as one of the Four Brothers, along with Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, and Serge Chaloff...
, Gene Quill
Gene Quill
Daniel Eugene Quill was an American alto saxophonist known for his bebop jazz records with Phil Woods. He and Woods recorded as Phil and Quill...
, Hank Jones
Hank Jones
Henry "Hank" Jones was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored him with the NEA Jazz Masters Award...
and Mundell Lowe
Mundell Lowe
Mundell Lowe is an American jazz guitarist.Lowe was born in Laurel, Mississippi on 21 March 1922. In the 1930s he played country music and Dixieland jazz. He later played with big bands and orchestras, and on television in New York City. In the 1960s, Lowe composed music for films and television...
and they recorded the track Ooh Baby It Scares Me by Paulette Girard.
Later in the 1950s and into the 1960s he worked primarily as a studio musician, and in 1964 he moved back to the Netherlands. There he continued work in studios as an arranger and producer, and recorded less as a player.
Discography
- Four albums for Van Wouw, 1944; titles unknown
- Accordion Solos (Brunswick RecordsBrunswick RecordsBrunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
, 1953) - Mat Mathews (Brunswick, 1953)
- The Modern Art of Jazz (Dawn RecordsDawn RecordsDawn Records was a subsidiary of Pye Records. Active from 1970 to 1975, it was set up largely as Pye's 'underground and progressive' label, a rival of the EMI and Phonogram equivalents, Harvest and Vertigo....
, 1956) - The Gentle Art of Love (Dawn, 1956)
- Records for SavoySavoy RecordsSavoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part in popularizing bebop.Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part...
and VerveVerve RecordsVerve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
, 1957 - Swingin' Pretty and All That Jazz (Design Records, 1959)
- Record for AriolaAriola RecordsAriola Records is a German record label. As of the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of BMG which in turn has since become a part of the international media conglomerate Sony Music Entertainment...
, 1975 - Mat Mathews Sextet Meditation 1994