He moved to St. Louis when he was 18 years old. The year was 1907, right in the middle of the ragtime craze. He got employment with Tom Turpin, the local saloon keeper and ragtime composer and pianist. While in St. Louis, Matthews got formal training in music at a local school of music. Matthew's furthering of his education makes him distinct from many ragtime pianist/composers who didn't have formal training, some without the ability to read music. Matthews went on to compose a few ragtime pieces, including the 5 Pastime Rags, published between 1913-1918.
Eventually Matthews wrote blues numbers as well as jazz, but most of his later life was dedicated to education of black musicians. Formal education for black musicians was scarce at the time, as many music schools did not accept them. Matthews started his own school in Cincinnati, Ohio and was honored with an honorary doctorate.
We at Big And Tall Records are fortunate to have Big Marv as one of our artists and producers. His knowledge of music ranges from Dixieland Jazz to Classical, and he has some comments about the two ragtime pieces he plays:
Artie Matthews didn't compose many ragtime pieces, but what he wrote are of high quality, especially the 5 Pastime Rags. These are written in a 'slow drag' style, and there is a definite 'latin' feel in the rhythm that shows up here and there. It was emphasized by many of the ragtime writers to not play ragtime too fast! Some of the renditions we've heard over the years takes way too much off the mystique of the style by playing it too fast. One example of how slow and mellow ragtime can be is this example of The Slippery Elm Rag written by Clarence Woods -
I chose only two out of the five, number 3 and number 4. These are the two that my professor in college used as examples of classic ragtime. The 3rd has a distinct latin feel to the first section after the introductory trills. But it regains it's classic rag stance with the finale. There's a temptation to add to this rag, to embellish it. Some players do, but I prefer to follow the advice of ragtime composers themselves who would write on their compositions don't fake it! In other words, play it as written!
Number 4 is the one I really remember from school! My professor was a concert quality pianist as well as a fine teacher, and when he first played the piece it was strange. It took a bit until we in class realized that the different sounds we were hearing were tone clusters! Bunched up notes, played 4 at a time, all close together. Prof really brought out the quality and distinct sound of the clusters in the repeat of the section when he took it louder. It was like big, fat harmony, like an elephant clumping along! A most unique rag!
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