Mat Mathews

Mat Mathews ( born June 18, 1924 in The Hague as Mathieu Schwartz, † February 12, 2009 in Rotterdam) was a Dutch accordion players of modern jazz. He worked a long time in America.

Life and work

Mat Mathews was after the Second World War, inspired by a radio show with Joe Mooney and began to play jazz on the accordion. In the Netherlands, he played with the band The Millers from 1947 to 1950. 1952 he emigrated to the United States. There he fought for the acceptance of the accordion in the bop -oriented jazz scene of the early 1950s. He trained in New York a formation of, inter alia, the young Herbie Mann as a tenor saxophonist and flutist, Julius Watkins, Joe Puma, and belonged to a rhythm section Oscar Pettiford, Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke. An additional sessions were involved also Art Farmer, Gigi Gryce and Dick Katz. Emerged during this period ( after 1953 ) several albums under his own direction; also he accompanied in 1954/55, the singer Carmen McRae. In 1956, he starred in the band The 4 Most with, which also included Al Cohn, Gene Quill, Hank Jones and Mundell Lowe, and accompanied with his quintet, the singer Rita Reys and Bob Stewart. In 1957 he joined at the Newport Jazz Festival and formed the New York Jazz Quartet with Herbie Mann, Joe Puma and Whitey Mitchell. At the end of the decade, Mathews turned to studio work in Hollywood; In 1964 he returned to the Netherlands, where he worked as a studio musician, as well as Frans van Bergen and 1968-1984 worked at The Millers again, with whom he recorded several albums. With vibraphonist Coen van Nassau in 1969 he took on the LP The Swinging mallets. In his last years he joined in Rotterdam on a regular basis.

Discography

• Swingin 'Pretty
• All That Jazz
• The Modern Art of Jazz ( Dawn, 1956)
• The Gentle Art of Love ( Dawn, 1956)
• The 4 Most & Bob Stewart ( Dawn, 1956)