David Matthews

Biography
Articles

Grant Green: The Main Attraction

by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
October 30, 2025

During his brilliant career as one of the best producers in the music history, Creed Taylor (born in Lynchburg, Virginia, on May 13, 1929) has worked with some of world's greatest guitarists: from Barry Galbraith (1919-1983) and Mundell Lowe, who took part in the Creed Taylor Orchestra albums (Lonelyville, Shock!, Ping Pang Pong) for ABC-Paramount in the late Fifties, to smooth jazz virtuoso Steve Laury, who was signed to CTI in 1995. In between, Creed produced memorable albums ...

Liner Notes

Ron Carter: Anything Goes

by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
July 11, 2024

Ronald Levin Carter (born Ferndale, Michigan, on May 4, 1937) needs no introduction. Let's just say that he is the bassist's bassist. On Ron's hands, the bass and the man become the same entity, the same person. Played by Ron Carter, the acoustic bass sounds like... Ron Carter! That's why he is one of the three top bassists in the music history. However, if Ron needs no introduction, his Anything Goes album does. Recorded on June & July, ...

191

Album Review

David Matthews & the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra: Hey Duke!

by Jack Bowers
April 12, 2002

To celebrate properly its tenth anniversary in 1999 the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra and conductor / arranger David Matthews turned to the music of Duke Ellington, the centenary of whose birth was that same year, to produce an album whose aim, in Matthews’ words, was to be “unique while maintaining a clear sense of Ellington’s originals.” As was Duke’s custom, Matthews arranged each of the eight songs (including his own composition, “Song for Edward”) with specific soloists in mind, showcasing the ...

158

Album Review

David Matthews and the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra: Bach 2000

by Jack Bowers
November 1, 2001

So all these years we thought the “J.S.” in J.S. Bach stood for “Johann Sebastian,” when what it really meant was “Just Swingin’!” We had no idea J.S. was so hip — that is, before David Matthews marked the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death by renovating several of his post–Baroque works for the sixteen–member Manhattan Jazz Orchestra. Chances are that those who have even a nodding acquaintance with classical music will easily recognize such archetypal works as “Toccata and ...