Mat Mathews, born Mathieu Hubert Wijnandts Schwarts (June 18, 1924 – February 12, 2009), was a Dutch jazz accordionist.

Early life

Mathews was born in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

and learned to play accordion while the Netherlands was still under the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

rule during World War II. After hearing Joe Mooney on a radio broadcast after the war, he decided to play jazz.

Later life and career

Mathews moved to New York in 1952 and formed a quartet which included

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (incl ...

. He also worked with

Kenny Clarke Kenneth Clarke Spearman (January 9, 1914January 26, 1985), nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-ha ...

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, Milt Jackson and

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. He worked mainly as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

in the late 1950s, and returned to the Netherlands in 1964, where he worked as an arranger, session musician, and record producer. In the 1970s, he worked in the US with

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, Doug Duke,

Marian McPartland Margaret Marian McPartland OBE ( Turner;Hasson, Claire"Marian McPartland: Jazz Pianist: An Overview of a Career" PhD Thesis. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 20 March 1918 – 20 August 2013), was an English–American jazz pianist, composer, and wri ...

, and

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...

Discography

* ''Mat Mathews'' ( Brunswick, 1953) * ''The Modern Art of Jazz'' (

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

, 1956) * ''Accordion Solos'' (Brunswick, 1956) * ''

Eddie Costa, Mat Mathews & Don Elliott at Newport ''Eddie Costa, Mat Mathews & Don Elliott at Newport'' is a live album featuring performances by Eddie Costa's Trio/Quintet, Mat Mathews' Quartet and Don Elliott's Quartet recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957 and released on the Verve lab ...

'' (

Verve Verve may refer to: Music * The Verve, an English rock band * ''The Verve E.P.'', a 1992 EP by The Verve * ''Verve'' (R. Stevie Moore album) * Verve Records, an American jazz record label Businesses * Verve Coffee Roasters, an American coffee ho ...

, 1957) * ''Swingin' Pretty and All That Jazz'' (1959) * ''Meditation'' (Jazz World, 1995) * ''Live at Music Room'' (1996) * ''The Gentle Art of Love'' (2004)

As sideman

With

* ''

'' (

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, 1955)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Mat 1924 births 2009 deaths Dutch jazz musicians Jazz accordionists Musicians from The Hague 20th-century accordionists