Ronnie Mathews
Encyclopedia
Ronnie Mathews was a jazz pianist primarily known for his work with other musicians, including Max Roach
from 1963 to 1968 and Art Blakey
's Jazz Messengers. He acted as lead in recording from 1963 and 1978 - 1979. His most recent work was in 2008, as both a mentor and musician with "Generations," a group of stalwart jazz musicians headed by veteran drummer Jimmy Cobb
. He contributed two new compositions to the album that was released by San Francisco State University's International Center for the Arts on September 15, 2008.
and Bud Powell
, with a sprinkle of McCoy Tyner
.
In his twenties, Mathews toured internationally and recorded with Roach, Freddie Hubbard
and Roy Haynes
. He was also a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the late 1950s through the 60's. By thirty, he began teaching jazz piano and led workshops, clinics and master classes at Long Island University in New York City. Besides Dexter Gordon
and Clark Terry
, he toured and recorded on two Louis Hayes
projects in the 70's (i.e. the Louis Hayes-Woody Shaw
Quintet and the Louis Hayes-Junior Cook
Quintet).
One of the highlights of his career and longest associations, was with the Johnny Griffin
Quartet. For almost five years (1978-1982) he was an integral part of Johnny Griffin's Quartet and forged lasting relationships with Johnny, Kenny Washington
(drums) and Ray Drummond
(bass). The New York Times describes Mathews as "a constant and provocative challenge to Mr. Griffin...(he) is the energizer of the group..." One of the few Johnny Griffin recordings that features Ronnie's original compositions is "To the Ladies" (Galaxy).
In the 80's, Mathews began honing his role as a front man. He performed as a leader in duo, trio and quartet configurations around the world (from New York City to Genova, to the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, and more). He also toured with Freddie Hubbard
and Dizzy Gillespie
's United Nations Band. One sign of his broad scope of talent and musical amiability, is his position as pianist for the Tony Award winning Broadway musical, Black and Blue in 1989. And Broadway was not his only cross-media project; In 1990, Mathews was one of the artists who recorded on Spike Lee's movie, Mo' Better Blues
.
After a stint touring and recording with the Clifford Jordan
Big Band in the early 90's, Mathews joined T.S. Monk for eight years of touring and recording. Glowing reviews of the T.S. Monk Band never failed to compliment Mathews. The Chicago Tribune
considered Mathews "the soul of the band... who's angular romanticism provides the horn players with a lush, spicy foundation..." Three CDs have been recorded with the T.S. Monk, Jr. Band. T.S. Monk's "Charm" is one recording that has Ronnie Mathews' offerings on it.
Mathews died of leukemia on June 28, 2008 in Brooklyn
.
In 1998 Hal Leonard Books published his collection of student arrangements: "Easy Piano of Thelonious Monk" .
Aside from the string of solo recordings done with various labels over the years: Doin' the Thang (1963/Prestige), So Sorry Please (1985/Nilva), Selena's Dance (1988/Timeless), At Cafe des Copains (1989/Sackville), Dark Before the Dawn (1990/DIW), Lament for Love (1992/DIW), Shades of Monk (1995/Sound Hills), etc., Mathews' playing and compositions can be enjoyed on countless recordings by other musicians; Roy Hargrove's Family (1995), Abbey Lincoln's People In Me, and Antoine Roney's Whirling, to name a few.
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
from 1963 to 1968 and Art Blakey
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
's Jazz Messengers. He acted as lead in recording from 1963 and 1978 - 1979. His most recent work was in 2008, as both a mentor and musician with "Generations," a group of stalwart jazz musicians headed by veteran drummer Jimmy Cobb
Jimmy Cobb
-External links:* - includes full discography* * * * * * *...
. He contributed two new compositions to the album that was released by San Francisco State University's International Center for the Arts on September 15, 2008.
Biography
According to the New York Daily News, "Ronnie Mathews (is) another stalwart figure who has yet to receive the proper recognition." Critics have showered accolades upon his name and affectionately compare him to fellow pianists Thelonious MonkThelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
and Bud Powell
Bud Powell
Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell was an American Jazz pianist. Powell has been described as one of "the two most significant pianists of the style of modern jazz that came to be known as bop", the other being his friend and contemporary Thelonious Monk...
, with a sprinkle of McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
.
In his twenties, Mathews toured internationally and recorded with Roach, Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
and Roy Haynes
Roy Haynes
Roy Owen Haynes is an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Haynes is among the most recorded drummers in jazz, and in a career lasting more than 60 years has played in a wide range of styles ranging from swing and bebop to jazz fusion and avant-garde jazz...
. He was also a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the late 1950s through the 60's. By thirty, he began teaching jazz piano and led workshops, clinics and master classes at Long Island University in New York City. Besides Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and an Academy Award-nominated actor . He is regarded as one of the first and most important musicians to adapt the bebop musical language of people like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell to the tenor saxophone...
and Clark Terry
Clark Terry
Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
, he toured and recorded on two Louis Hayes
Louis Hayes
Louis Hayes is an American jazz drummer.-Biography:His father played drums and piano and his mother the piano and he refers to the early influence of hearing jazz, especially that of big bands, on the radio...
projects in the 70's (i.e. the Louis Hayes-Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and band leader, often referred to as the "last innovator" in the jazz trumpet lineage...
Quintet and the Louis Hayes-Junior Cook
Junior Cook
Herman "Junior" Cook was a hard bop tenor saxophone player.-Biography:Cook was born in Pensacola, Florida. After playing with Dizzy Gillespie in 1958, Cook gained some fame for his longtime membership in the Horace Silver Quintet ; when he and Blue Mitchell left that band, Cook played in...
Quintet).
One of the highlights of his career and longest associations, was with the Johnny Griffin
Johnny Griffin
John Arnold Griffin III was an American bop and hard bop tenor saxophonist.- Early life and career :Griffin studied music at DuSable High School in Chicago under Walter Dyett, starting out on clarinet before moving on to oboe and then alto sax...
Quartet. For almost five years (1978-1982) he was an integral part of Johnny Griffin's Quartet and forged lasting relationships with Johnny, Kenny Washington
Kenny Washington (musician)
Kenny Washington is a jazz drummer born in Staten Island, New York.He studied at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts...
(drums) and Ray Drummond
Ray Drummond
Ray Drummond is a jazz bassist and teacher. He also has an MBA from Stanford University, hence his linkage to the Stanford Jazz Workshop...
(bass). The New York Times describes Mathews as "a constant and provocative challenge to Mr. Griffin...(he) is the energizer of the group..." One of the few Johnny Griffin recordings that features Ronnie's original compositions is "To the Ladies" (Galaxy).
In the 80's, Mathews began honing his role as a front man. He performed as a leader in duo, trio and quartet configurations around the world (from New York City to Genova, to the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, and more). He also toured with Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
and Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
's United Nations Band. One sign of his broad scope of talent and musical amiability, is his position as pianist for the Tony Award winning Broadway musical, Black and Blue in 1989. And Broadway was not his only cross-media project; In 1990, Mathews was one of the artists who recorded on Spike Lee's movie, Mo' Better Blues
Mo' Better Blues
Mo' Better Blues is a 1990 drama film starring Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, and Spike Lee, who also directed. It follows a period in the life of a fictional jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam as a series of bad decisions result in his jeopardizing both his relationships and his playing career...
.
After a stint touring and recording with the Clifford Jordan
Clifford Jordan
Clifford Laconia Jordan was a jazz saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after which he recorded three albums for Blue Note. He also recorded with Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, Kenny...
Big Band in the early 90's, Mathews joined T.S. Monk for eight years of touring and recording. Glowing reviews of the T.S. Monk Band never failed to compliment Mathews. The Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
considered Mathews "the soul of the band... who's angular romanticism provides the horn players with a lush, spicy foundation..." Three CDs have been recorded with the T.S. Monk, Jr. Band. T.S. Monk's "Charm" is one recording that has Ronnie Mathews' offerings on it.
Mathews died of leukemia on June 28, 2008 in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
.
In 1998 Hal Leonard Books published his collection of student arrangements: "Easy Piano of Thelonious Monk" .
Aside from the string of solo recordings done with various labels over the years: Doin' the Thang (1963/Prestige), So Sorry Please (1985/Nilva), Selena's Dance (1988/Timeless), At Cafe des Copains (1989/Sackville), Dark Before the Dawn (1990/DIW), Lament for Love (1992/DIW), Shades of Monk (1995/Sound Hills), etc., Mathews' playing and compositions can be enjoyed on countless recordings by other musicians; Roy Hargrove's Family (1995), Abbey Lincoln's People In Me, and Antoine Roney's Whirling, to name a few.
Discography
- 1963: Ronnie Mathews/Roland Alexander/Freddie Hubbard with Roland AlexanderRoland AlexanderRoland Alexander was an American post-bop jazz musician from Boston, Massachusetts.Alexander played tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, and piano. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Boston Conservatory and then moved to New York City in 1958...
, Marcus BelgraveMarcus BelgraveMarcus Belgrave is a jazz trumpet player from Detroit, born in Chester, Pennsylvania. He has recorded with a variety of famous musicians, bandleaders, and record labels since the 1950s. Notable among them are: Ray Charles, Charles Mingus, Gunther Schuller, Motown Records, Tribe Records, Blue Note...
, Charles DavisCharles Davis (saxophonist)Charles Davis is an American jazz baritone saxophonist who performed extensively with Archie Shepp and Sun Ra, among others.-Biography:...
, Albert "Tootie" HeathTootie HeathAlbert "Tootie" Heath is an American jazz hard bop drummer, the brother of tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath and double-bassist Percy Heath.He first recorded in 1957 with John Coltrane. From 1958 to 1974 he worked with, among others, J. J...
, Freddie HubbardFreddie HubbardFrederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, Eddie KhanEddie KhanEddie Khan is an American jazz bassist who worked extensively with Max Roach, Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard and Andrew Hill.-As sideman:* Bill Barron: Modern Windows Suite...
, Gene TaylorGene Taylor (bassist)Calvin Eugene Taylor, professionally known as Gene Taylor , was an American jazz double bassist. He was born in Toledo, Ohio and began his career in Detroit, Michigan. Taylor worked with Horace Silver from 1958 until 1963. He then joined Blue Mitchell's quintet, with whom he recorded and performed... - 1963: Doin' the Thang with Charles Davis, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Freddie Hubbard, Eddie Khan
- 1975: Trip to the Orient (East Wind RecordsEast Wind RecordsEast Wind was a Japanese jazz record label.Among their most prominent artists were "The Great Jazz Trio", a group that has included Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Hank Jones, Richard Davis, Ron Carter.-Discography:-External links:**...
), with Louis HayesLouis HayesLouis Hayes is an American jazz drummer.-Biography:His father played drums and piano and his mother the piano and he refers to the early influence of hearing jazz, especially that of big bands, on the radio...
, Yoshio Suzuki - 1978: Roots, Branches and Dances (Bee Hive RecordsBee Hive Records-Discography:-References:*...
) with Ray DrummondRay DrummondRay Drummond is a jazz bassist and teacher. He also has an MBA from Stanford University, hence his linkage to the Stanford Jazz Workshop...
, Al FosterAl FosterAl Foster is an American jazz drummer. Foster played with Miles Davis's large funk fusion group in the 70s, was one of the few people to have contact with Miles during his retirement, and was also part of his comeback album The Man With the Horn of 1981...
, Frank FosterFrank Foster (musician)Frank Foster was an American tenor and soprano saxophonist, flautist, arranger, and composer. Foster collaborated frequently with Count Basie and worked as a bandleader from the early 1950s.-Biography:...
, Azzedin Weston - 1979: Legacy (Bee Hive) with Ricky FordRicky FordRicky Ford is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Ford was born in Boston and studied at the New England Conservatory. In 1974 he recorded with Gunther Schuller and then played in the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington from 1974 to 1976...
, Bill HardmanBill HardmanWilliam Franklin Hardman, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist who chiefly played hard bop.-Biography:...
, Walter BookerWalter BookerWalter Booker was an American jazz musician. A native of Prairie View, Texas, Booker was a reliable bass player and an underrated stylist. His playing was marked by voice-like inflections, glissandos and tremolo techniques.-Biography:Booker moved with his family to Washington, D.C. in the mid 1940s...
, Jimmy CobbJimmy Cobb-External links:* - includes full discography* * * * * * *... - 1980: Song for Leslie with Ray Drummond, Kenny WashingtonKenny Washington (musician)Kenny Washington is a jazz drummer born in Staten Island, New York.He studied at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts...
- 1985: So Sorry Please mit Ray Drummond, Alvin Queen
- 1988: Selena's Dance with Stafford JamesStafford James-Biography:As a young man, Stafford James enlisted in the Air Force; after his discharge he studied at the University of Chicago with Rudolf Fahsbender. In 1969 he moved to New York City and studied under Julius Levine at the Mannes College for Music. Here he met Pharaoh Sanders, with whom he...
, Tony ReedusTony ReedusTony Reedus was an American jazz drummer.Reedus first gained notice playing in Woody Shaw's band in the 1980s... - 1988: Stella by Starlight with Stafford James, Tony Reedus
- 1989: At Cafe Des Copains
- 1990: Dark Before the Dawn with Ray Drummond, Billy HigginsBilly HigginsBilly Higgins was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958...
- 1992: Lament for Love
- 1995: Shadows of Monk
- 2001: Once I Love with Walter Booker, Alvin Queen
- 2008: Fortuna with Roni Ben-HurRoni Ben-HurRoni Ben-Hur is a Tunisian-Israeli bebop jazz guitarist who emigrated to the United States in 1985. His third CD, Anna's Dance, was rated by The Village Voice as one of the best jazz CDs of 2001...
External links
- [ All Music]
- http://www.jazzpianists.com/RonnieMathews/