Onzy Matthews

Onzy Durrett Matthews, Jr. (January 15, 1930 – November 13, 1997) was an American jazz pianist, singer, arranger, composer, and television and movie actor. He is best known for the big band arrangements done for the Lou Rawls albums Black and Blue and Tobacco Road, as well as arrangements for several of Ray Charles' 1960s releases. He had his own big band for many years and recorded numerous tracks for Capitol Records, including two albums released under his own name. He later had a close relationship with the Duke Ellington orchestra, working as a pianist, arranger and conductor through the late 1960s and 1970s.

Biography

Early days and move to Los Angeles Onzy Durrett Matthews, Jr. was born on January 15, 1930, to Onzy Matthews and Leola Jones in Fort Worth, Texas. He grew up in Dallas until his early teens when his mother moved to Los Angeles seeking better-paying work. His early exposure to music was through singing in a church gospel choir. He graduated from high school early, at the age of 16, and primarily wanted to be a singer. "I taught myself to accompany myself on piano and then I found out you had to have arrangements." Curtis Amy included two of Matthews' original tunes on his Pacific Jazz albums Meetin' Here and Way Down in 1961 and 1962 respectively. Dexter Gordon recorded Matthews' original tune "Very Saxily Yours" for his Gettin' Around album on Blue Note, but the track was not released until 25 years later on the CD re-issue. He said at the time: "They said the band was too mixed, a couple of whites or a couple of Negroes would be O.K. but not 50/50."

Onzy Matthews Big Band Matthews' group in the early 1960s was finding work as a big band in Los Angeles; most of his players were shared, alternating with Gerald Wilson's big band (another integrated big band) every other weekend at the Metro Theatre in Los Angeles. Eleven of those charts would comprise Rawls' LP Black and Blue, which charted for three weeks in Billboard magazine from April 1963, reaching no.130. Both men were back in the studio at Capitol in July and August 1963 to record more tracks, which made up Rawls' album Tobacco Road. Both albums were re-issued in 1969 on a Capitol release, Close-Up, which charted for three weeks in Billboard starting in August 1969, peaking at no.191. The band for the two Rawls LPs is essentially the personnel of the Onzy Matthews big band from that time. Matthews' arranging style was a perfect fit for Rawls, but the pair did not re-unite for any other releases for Capitol.

A second high-profile Matthews arranging assignment during this time was for Jac Holzman, who used him to arrange the traditional jazz ensemble tracks for Judy Henske's 1963 debut album for Elektra Records.

Matthews was finally signed to Capitol by Venet, and his first LP Non-Stop Jazz Samba was recorded in February 1963. Lefty Louie/Blues Non-Stop, a quartet backed by voices, was also recorded during these sessions and was released as a single on the Capitol label.

July 1964 saw the next Matthews' Capitol album recorded, Sounds of the '60s, but it was not issued until spring 1966. The album is not as cohesive a project as the first release and did not achieve the same fame as Blues With a Touch of Elegance.

In October 1966, Matthews was assigned to write for Esther Phillips. His charts were recorded live in 1970, and appeared on the Atlantic release Confessin' the Blues, one of Phillips' best recordings. The Phillips release has frequently been miscredited as having been recorded in 1976, due to its repackaging as a compilation; again Matthews' big band backs the primary artist. His other arranging assignments for recordings included work for Herb Alpert and Curtis Amy's 1965 LP The Sounds of Broadway/The Sounds of Hollywood for Palomar Records. He did some writing for Lloyd Price's big band and also the Jazz with Steve KTLA T.V. show from Los Angeles in 1963.

Ray Charles and other writing During the mid-1960s, Matthews was able to parlay his earlier arranging success into being offered numerous arranging assignments with singer Ray Charles. All these tracks were recorded for ABC-Paramount. In March and June 1965, two arrangements by Matthews were recorded for Charles' album Country & Western meets Rhythm & Blues.

Acting career Matthews first worked in Los Angeles night clubs as a singer in the 1950s, and became known as a personality. He had his first television appearance on the KLAC-TV show Hollywood On Television hosted by Al Jarvis, where he sang in duet with co-host Betty White (her first T.V. work). He also broke into acting around Hollywood; Matthews was tall, handsome, and very well spoken. and also the February 14, 1966, episode In Search of April from Run for Your Life starring Ben Gazzara which also ran on NBC.

During the 1970s, Matthews arranged music for albums by Earl Hines and Roy Ayers; he also worked on television music for Paul Anka. At that time, he moved around between New York, Dallas and Seattle, and at one point worked for Sheraton Resorts in the Virgin Islands, Aruba, and Curaçao as solo pianist and singer. Disenchanted by much of the musical scene, in 1979 Matthews moved to Paris and started another jazz orchestra. Working from there as a composer, arranger, and actor, he appeared in the movie Dingo (1991) playing the trumpeter Caesar alongside Miles Davis. This set comprises the two albums he released with his big band plus all the other unissued material recorded at Capitol by Matthews with his band. The first LP, the bossa nova project from 1963, was not put on the market at the time, despite its writing and playing being equal to anything happening during that time in jazz and pop music. Matthews is enigmatic and a hard person to pinpoint; in many ways he did not get nearly the credit he deserved in comparison with big band leaders or musical directors such as Oliver Nelson, Gerald Wilson, or Harold Wheeler.

Discography, television, film

As leader Non-stop Jazz Samba (Capitol) 1964 Blues With A Touch Of Elegance (Capitol) 1964 Lefty Louie/Blues Non-Stop (7", Single) (Capitol) 1966 Sounds For The '60s! (Capitol) 2007 Onzy Matthews: Mosaic Select 29 (Mosaic)

As composer, arranger, and/or conductor 1956 Maurice Meunier & His Orchestra Maurice Meunier (Barclay, FRANCE) 1960 Memorial Album, Kenny Dorham (Xanadu) 1961 Meetin' Here, Curtis Amy (Pacific Jazz) 1962 Break Through, Gene Shaw (Argo) 1962 Way Down, Curtis Amy (Pacific Jazz) 1962 Black and Blue, Lou Rawls (Capitol) 1963 Tobacco Road, Lou Rawls (Capitol) 1963 Judy Henske, Judy Henske (Elektra) 1964 Book of the Blues, Vol. 1, Richard "Groove" Holmes (Pacific Jazz) 1964 Balanced for Broadcast: June 1964, Various artists (Capitol - promotional) 1965 Gettin' Around, Dexter Gordon (Blue Note) 1965 Country & Western meets Rhythm & Blues, Ray Charles (ABC-Paramount) 1965 The Sounds of Broadway/The Sounds of Hollywood, Curtis Amy (Palomar Records) 1966 Ray's Moods, Ray Charles (ABC-Paramount) 1966 Cryin' Time, Ray Charles (ABC-Paramount) 1966 A Bowl Of Soul, Richard "Groove" Holmes (Pacific Jazz) 1970/1976 Confessin' the Blues, Esther Phillips (Atlantic) 1975 Mystic Voyage, Roy Ayers (Polydor) 1977 Jazz Is His Old Lady and My Old Man, Earl Hines (Catalyst Records) 1989 Music Is My Mistress Duke Ellington (Musicmasters) 1980 Landslide, Dexter Gordon (Blue Note) 1994 I'm Glad There Is You: A Tribute to Carmen McRae, Vanessa Rubin (RCA-Novus) 1996 Only God Can Make A Tree, Mercer Ellington (Musicmasters)

Television and film (actor) 1965 Kraft Suspense Theatre: Connery's Hands 1966 Run for Your Life: In Search of April 1991 Dingo