Ronnie Mathews
Ronnie Mathews (born December 2, 1935 in New York City , † June 28, 2008 in Brooklyn , New York) was an American jazz pianist.
Live and act
Mathews began playing the piano at the age of eleven, studied with Hall Overton in 1954 and graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in 1959 . In the mid-1950s he appeared with Max Roach , recorded a Japanese film score with him in 1963, was in Freddie Hubbard's band in 1964/65 and was involved in the recording of the album Breaking Point in 1964 . In 1965/66 he worked with Freddie Hubbard and Roy Haynes and was a member of Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers in the late 1960s ; he toured Europe and Japan with him and others in 1968/69. In the early 1970s he was a private lecturer at Long Island University , toured with Dexter Gordon ( Tokyo 1975 ) and from 1972 worked on several albums by Louis Hayes and his sextet; from 1974 he played with Clark Terry's big band and quartet. Because of drug problems he had to interrupt his career at the end of the 1960s.
Mathews performed at several Newport / New York festivals in the mid-1970s and directed an anti-drug program for New York students that promoted music as a positive social alternative.
From 1978 to 1982 he was a member of the Johnny Griffin Quartet and accompanied him on his comeback album Return Of The Griffin . Since the 1980s, Mathews has led his own formations with which he has appeared in the USA and Europe and he has appeared with his own albums Roots Branches & Dances and Legacy , with Bill Hardman, Jimmy Cobb, Ricky Ford and Walter Booker. He also toured with Freddie Hubbard and with Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Band . In 1989 he was the pianist in the Broadway musical Black and Blue , which won a Tony Award .
In 1990 he worked on Spike Lee's film Mo 'Better Blues on the score.
After playing in Clifford Jordan's big band in the early 1990s , he was a member of TS Monk 's band for eight years . Matthews worked as a teacher at New York's New School. He died of cancer.
Mathews was valued by the bandleaders of the hardbop Blakey, Roach and Haynes and sees his and the indispensable basis of modern jazz in the "classic" bebop style.
Discographic notes
- Ronnie Mathews / Roland Alexander / Freddie Hubbard ( Prestige Records , 1961–63)
- Doin 'the Thang (Prestige Records, 1963) with Charles Davis, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Freddie Hubbard, Eddie Khan
- Trip to the Orient with Louis Hayes , Yoshio Suzuki , 1975
- Roots, Branches and Dances with Ray Drummond , Al Foster , Frank Foster , Azzedin Weston , 1978
- Legacy with Ricky Ford , Bill Hardman , Walter Booker , Jimmy Cobb , 1979
- Song for Leslie with Ray Drummond, Kenny Washington , 1980
- So Sorry Please with Ray Drummond, Alvin Queen , 1985
- Selena's Dance ( Timeless Records , 1988) with Stafford James , Tony Reedus
- At Cafe Des Copains ( Sackville , 1989) solo
- Dark Before the Dawn ( DIW Records , 1990) with Ray Drummond, Billy Higgins
- Lament for Love (1992) with Frank Gant , David Williams
- Once I Love (2001) with Walter Booker, Alvin Queen
Individual evidence
- ^ Obituary in The New York Times
- ↑ a b c d e f Kunzler, Jazzlexikon, Rowohlt 1991
Web links
- Ronnie Mathews at Allmusic (English)
- all about jazz
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mathews, Ronnie |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz pianist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 2, 1935 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 28, 2008 |
| Place of death | New York City |