Artie Matthews (November 15, 1888 – October 25, 1958) was an American
songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...
,
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
, and
ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...
composer.
Artie Matthews was born in
Braidwood, Illinois
Braidwood is a city in Will County, Illinois, United States, approximately southwest of Chicago and south of Joliet. The population was 6,191 at the 2010 census.
The Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station, a nuclear power plant currently owned ...
; his family moved to
Springfield, Illinois in his youth. He learned to play piano, mostly popular songs and light classics, until he heard ragtime played by a pianist named Banty Morgan about 1905. Matthews was fascinated and immersed himself in ragtime and started playing and writing numbers in the style. In 1908 he moved to the ragtime center of
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, which would be one of his bases, frequently alternating with Chicago, Illinois. He worked as a pianist, arranger, and wrote music for local theater productions.
In early 1913 music publisher
John Stark
Major-General John Stark (August 28, 1728 – May 8, 1822) was an American military officer who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. He became known as the "Hero of Bennington" for his exemplary service at the Batt ...
heard Matthews and offered him 50 dollars each for any original rags he submitted for publication. Matthews also worked as an arranger for Starks.
In 1916 Artie Matthews moved to
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...
, where he first worked as a church organist. In 1921 Matthews and his wife Anna Howard founded the ''Cosmopolitan School of Music'', a music school for
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s, where Matthews taught until his death. Among Matthews students was
Frank Foster, who would become the principal arranger for the
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
orchestra.
Some rank Artie Matthews with
Scott Joplin,
Joseph Lamb, and
James Scott as one of the finest and most sophisticated ragtime composers. His most famous rags are the "Pastime Rags", numbered 1 to 5, the latter of which was performed at one point by Lu Watters, with the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. His 1912 ''
Baby Seals Blues'' was one of the first published
Blues. His ''
Weary Blues'' remains a standard by
Dixieland
Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ...
and New Orleans jazz bands.
See also
*
List of ragtime composers
A list of ragtime composers, including a famous or characteristic composition.
Pre-1940
*Felix Arndt (1889–1918), "Nola" (1916)
*May Aufderheide (1888–1972), "Dusty Rag" (1908)
* Roy Bargy (1894–1974), "Pianoflage" (1922)
* Harry Belding (1 ...
External links
Dr. Artie Matthewsbiography with photos on the website of Matthews' son
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Artie
1888 births
1958 deaths
African-American pianists
Ragtime composers
People from Braidwood, Illinois
People from Springfield, Illinois
American male pianists
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century American pianists
20th-century African-American musicians