Rognvald Andrew Mathewson
(19 February 1944
– 3 December 2020)
was a British
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
double bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
ist and
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
ist. During his career, Mathewson performed with
Ronnie Scott
Ronnie may refer to:
*Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name
* "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe
*"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load''
*Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadium ...
, but also recorded with
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...
,
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...
,
Joan Armatrading
Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, (, born 9 December 1950) is a Kittitian-English singer-songwriter and guitarist.
A three-time Grammy Award nominee, Armatrading has also been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist. She received ...
,
Ben Webster
Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.
Career Early life and career
A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from ...
,
Philly Joe Jones
Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American jazz drummer.
Biography Early career
As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio station WIP. He was ...
,
Roy Eldridge
David Roy Eldridge (January 30, 1911 – February 26, 1989), nicknamed "Little Jazz", was an American jazz trumpeter. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos exhibiting a departure from t ...
,
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...
and
Bill Evans
William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...
.
Biography
Mathewson was born in
Lerwick
Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010.
Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...
,
Shetland
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the no ...
Islands, into an unusually musical household. At eight years old he was studying classical piano.
He continued to study and perform classical piano until he reached sixteen, having started playing
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
a year earlier.
His talent was noted and encouraged by the Shetland musician,
Peerie Willie Johnson
"Peerie" Willie Johnson (William Henry Johnson) (10 December 1920 in Yell, Shetland – 22 May 2007 in Lerwick, Shetland) was a Scottish folk guitarist and bassist. He was respected as an influential and innovative musician in the Shetland folk ...
.
In 1962, Mathewson was in Germany, playing professionally with a band that played
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 ( ...
music. In
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, he also performed with various jazz and
R&B bands throughout the early 1960s. Around this time he was also a member of
The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band
The Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band was a jazz big band co-led by American drummer Kenny Clarke and Belgian pianist François "Francy" Boland. They were one of the most noteworthy jazz big bands formed outside the United States, featuring top ...
.
In 1966, Mathewson became a member of the
Tubby Hayes
Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes (30 January 1935 – 8 June 1973) was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar.
Early life
...
band, with which he performed until 1973.
From 1975 on in to the 1990s, he was frequently a participant in
Ronnie Scott
Ronnie may refer to:
*Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name
* "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe
*"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load''
*Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadium ...
's recordings and concerts.
In 1983, he appeared on his old friend
Dick Morrissey
Richard Edwin Morrissey (9 May 1940 – 8 November 2000) was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and flute.
Biography Background
He was born in Horley, Surrey, England. Dick Morrissey emerg ...
's solo album, ''
After Dark'', with
Jim Mullen
Jim Mullen (born 26 November 1945) is a Scottish, Glasgow-born jazz guitarist with a distinctive style, like Wes Montgomery before him, picking with the thumb rather than a plectrum.
Biography
Jim Mullen was guitarist with Pete Brown & Piblo ...
,
John Critchinson
John William Frank Critchinson (24 December 1934 – 15 December 2017) also known as "Critch", was an English jazz pianist.
Biography
Critchinson was born in London in 1934. He worked as a part-time musician with Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, and J ...
,
Martin Drew
Martin Drew (11 February 1944 – 29 July 2010) was an English jazz drummer who played with Ronnie Scott between 1975 and 1995 and with Oscar Peterson between 1974 and 2007.
Career
Martin Drew was born on 11 February 1944 in Northampton, Engla ...
and Barry Whitworth.
On 11 February 2007, a benefit concert was held for Mathewson, who was reportedly recovering from two broken hips, a broken wrist and a ruptured artery.
The newsletter of the
Vortex Jazz club
The Vortex Jazz Club is a music venue in London, England. It was founded by David Mossman in the 1988.
Background
The Vortex started as a jazz club in 1988 and was located in Stoke Newington Church Street, north London. But after the acquisi ...
reported on 4 December 2020, that Mathewson died the day before after suffering from
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
during the
COVID-19 pandemic in England.
Discography
With
Tubby Hayes
Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes (30 January 1935 – 8 June 1973) was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar.
Early life
...
* ''For Members Only (Live)'' (Miles Music)
* ''Mexican Green'' (
Fontana)
With
Philly Joe Jones
Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American jazz drummer.
Biography Early career
As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio station WIP. He was ...
* ''
Trailways Express'' (
Black Lion Black Lion, Black Lions, or Blacklions may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Black Lion, Hammersmith, a London pub
* Black Lion, Kilburn, a London pub
* Black Lion Records, a British jazz record company
* Black Lions Films, associated wit ...
, 1968
971
Year 971 ( CMLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Battle of Dorostolon: A Byzantine expeditionary army (possibly 30–40,000 men) ...
With
John Taylor
* ''Reverie'' (Vinyl Records)
With
Gordon Beck
Gordon James Beck (16 September 1935 – 6 November 2011) was an English jazz pianist and composer. At the time of his death, 26 albums had been released under his name.
Early life
Beck was born in Brixton, London, and attended Pinner Coun ...
* ''Seven Steps to Evans'' w/
Tony Oxley
Tony Oxley (born 15 June 1938) is an English free improvising drummer and one of the founders of Incus Records.
Biography
Oxley was born in Sheffield, England. A self-taught pianist by the age of eight, he first began playing the drums at se ...
&
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active ...
(
MPS)
* ''All in the Morning'' (Jaguar)
* ''Jazz Trio'' (
Musica)
* ''Gordon Beck's Gyroscope: One, Two, Three....Go!'' (Jaguar)
With
Ronnie Scott
Ronnie may refer to:
*Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name
* "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe
*"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load''
*Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadium ...
* ''Live At Ronnie Scott's'' (
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
)
* ''Serious Gold'' (
Pye)
With
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer.
Biography
Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began ...
and His European Rhythm Machine
* ''Live at Montreux 72'' (Les Disques Pierre Cardin)
With
John Stevens
* ''Blue'' (
Culture Press
Culture Press is an independent record label from UK specialized in Jamaican music.
LP Discography
*VSLP5000 - Bob Marley - Interviews
*VSLP5001 - Clint Eastwood - The Best Of Clint Eastwood - 1984
*VSLP5002 - Dillinger - Blackboard Jungle - ...
)
With
Terry Smith
* ''Fall Out'' (
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
)
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 ...
* ''Rue Chaptal'' (MPS)
With
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active ...
* ''
Song for Someone'' (
Incus
The ''incus'' (plural incudes) or anvil is a bone in the middle ear. The anvil-shaped small bone is one of three ossicles in the middle ear. The ''incus'' receives vibrations from the ''malleus'', to which it is connected laterally, and transmit ...
, 1973)
With
Acoustic Alchemy
Acoustic Alchemy is an English smooth jazz band formed in England in the early 1980s by Nick Webb and Simon James.
1981–1989: Early days
Acoustic Alchemy was formed around the acoustic guitars of Simon James ( nylon string) and Nick Webb ( ...
* ''Early Alchemy'' (
GRP)
With
Ian Carr
Ian Carr (21 April 1933 – 25 February 2009) was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator. Carr performed and recorded with the Rendell-Carr quintet and jazz-fusion band Nucleus, and was an associate professor at the Guildhall ...
* ''Solar Plexus'' (
Vertigo
Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...
)
With the
Spontaneous Music Ensemble
Spontaneous may refer to:
* Spontaneous abortion
* Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis
* Spontaneous combustion
* Spontaneous declaration
* Spontaneous emission
* Spontaneous fission
* Spontaneous generation
* Spontaneous human combustion
* Sponta ...
* ''The Source: From and Towards'' (Tangent)
* ''Live Big Band and Quartet'' (Vinyl)
With ''The Chitinous Ensemble
* ''Chitinous'' (
Deram)
With ''Stan Sulzmann''
* ''On Loan with Gratitude'' (
Mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
)
With Rollercoaster
* ''
Wonderin''' (1980)
With
Ray Nance
Ray Willis Nance (December 10, 1913 – January 28, 1976) was an American jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer. He is best remembered for his long association with Duke Ellington and his orchestra.
Early years
Nance was the leader of his ow ...
* ''
Huffin'n'Puffin''' (1971)
With
Charles Tolliver
* ''
Impact
Impact may refer to:
* Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period
* Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US
Science and technology
* Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event
* Impac ...
'' (
Enja
Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971.
The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Ja ...
, 1972)
References
External links
*
*
"Ron Mathewson - Shetland's forgotten genius of the double bass" Tom Morton's Beatcroft, 11 November 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathewson, Ron
1944 births
2020 deaths
Male double-bassists
Scottish jazz bass guitarists
Scottish jazz double-bassists
People from Lerwick
Shetland music
Nucleus (band) members
21st-century double-bassists
21st-century British male musicians
British male jazz musicians
Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band members
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England