David Matthews

David Matthews, the son of a Methodist minister, was born in Sonora, Kentucky on March 4, l942. He was educated at the University of Cincinnati where he received a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition from its' College-Conservatory of Music in 1964.
From 1966-68 David led a jazz dance band on tour in Germany and Italy. In 1968-70 he played in jazz clubs in and around Cincinnati.
From 1969 to 74 he was the arranger and bandleader for James Brown Productions. During this period, James and several of the singers in James’ entourage recorded many of his tunes. He also co-wrote with James Brown.
In 1969, David moved to New York where he worked steadily as a free-lance arranger and writer. He worked on albums, singles, radio and TV commercials and film scores. He arranged or composed albums or tracks for Buddy Rich, Bonnie Raitt, T-Bone Walker, Blue Mitchell, Mark Murphy, the J.B.'s, Starland Vocal Band, Stephanie Mills, Earl Klugh, Phoebe Snow, Donald Bird, Crystal Gayle, David Sanborn, Billy Joel, Paul Simon Frank Sinatra and Paul McCartney. And, he arranged and composed radio and TV commercials for Sunoco, Texaco, Magna Vox, Champale, Welch’s, Mary Quant, Ford, NBC "Proud as a Peacock", "Reach Out" for A T & T, Sheraton, 7UP, Avon, McDonald's, Oldsmobile, Burger King, Nabisco, Clearasil, and Life Savers. His commercial for 3m Tape won a Clio Award in l975. In 1975 he won a Grammy for record of the year, for arranging work on Paul Simon's album "Still Crazy After All These Years".
From 1975 - 78 David was the staff arranger for CTI Records composing, arranging and producing records for stars such as Nina Simone, Hank Crawford, Art Farmer, Joe Farrell, Ron Carter, Idris Muhammad, Jim Hall, Grover Washington, Jr. and George Benson.
Matthews composed the scores for William Greaves film "The Fight" featuring Mohammad Ali and Joe Frazier, "Stony Island" produced and directed by Andrew Davis and "Bedtime Eyes" a Japanese film for which he not only wrote the music, but also performed with his group, Manhattan Jazz Quintet. He orchestrated film scores for "Parallax View", "The Stepford Wives", "Night Moves", and "Washington D.C., A City Out of Wilderness".
From l979 to 1989 David had been an artist, producer and composer for King Record of Japan. He is the leader of what since l984 has been Japan's Number one jazz group, "Manhattan Jazz Quintet". In Japan, the group (popularly known as the "new MJQ") has won "Swing Journal’s Golden Hit Award an unheard of 4 times and every year since 1984 has appeared in the top ten of Swing Journal's Reader's Poll.
David arranged the Simon and Garfunkel Reunion Concert in Central Park, the Memorial Concert for John Lennon by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Julian Lennon's debut Album "Valotte", Robert Plant's "The Honeydrippers, Volume I", Paul McCartney’s "Angry", Frank Sinatra, "L.A. is my Lady”, and Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man” followed by Billy's hit singles "Easy Money" and "Second Wind". He was also happy to arrange "Why Should I Worry" for Walt Disney Studio's animated film "Oliver".
In Swing Journal's 1989 Reader's Poll, David was voted the 1 Arranger of the Year in Japan
In 1994, David composed the film score for the" Space Battlecruiser Yamato", a planned series of 7 animated videos.
In 1995, David and his co producer Shigeyuki Kawashima received the Swing Journal Critic's Award for producing the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra CD "Get It On". On the Reader's Poll, MJO came in number 4 for the prestigious Gold Disc award.
Beginning in 1997 David began the recording of the jazz segments for a total of 120 episodes of the television show “Meikyoku Monogatari” on which he appeared leading the group David Matthews and Friends. This series was produced by Matsushita Denki for Osaka Television. These episodes were later released on DVD as “Panasonic Sound Essays”.
In 2002, David composed the score for the Japanese horror film “Isola”.
In 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Manhattan Jazz Orchestra was voted Number One in Swing Journal’s reader’s poll.
David has also arranged for and/or produced many Japanese artists, including: Seiko Matsuda, Masaki Ueda, Hidehiko Matsumoto, Ken Tanaka, and Masayuki “Martin” Suzuki; and in 2006, for the first time, MJO recorded a vocal album featuring Japan’s well known jazz vocalist Charito.
In 2006 David appeared as a featured celebrity on NHK TV’s “Eigo De Shabera Night”.
Also that year, David began to arrange and compose music for the world renowned Big Apple Circus.
David continues to produce records for the Japanese jazz scene. As of 2006, he has composed and/or arranged and produced nearly 200 CD's for that market.
In addition to all of this, David has gathered together a number of other writers to contribute to his publishing company, Setting Sun Music.
In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in David’s music both from his James Brown period and the music he wrote in the 1970’s. Many hip-hop artists such as The Notorious B.I.G.; Nas, Methodman and Redman, and The Large Professor have sampled some of that music. The track “Sandworms”, from his album “Dune” has been sampled numerous times, and that album “Dune” is in the Hip Hop Hall of Fame. His very first album “The Grodeck Whipperjenny”, recorded for James Brown Productions in 1970 has achieved cult status, and original vinyl pressings are currently selling for $200 apiece. And his composition/production of “Mr. Hot Pants a.k.a. Across The Tracks” by The Believers has been rated the number one 45” single of the genre “deep funk”.
In 2007 David signed with a new record company, Birds Records. He also continues to appear regularly on NHK TV.
Dave loves sailing almost as much as he does music. In order to keep mind and soul together he tries to spend at a part of each year on his 31 ft. sailboat "Setting Sun" with his wife, Mattie.