David Matthews (born March 4, 1942), is an American keyboardist, pianist, and music arranger.

Early life and education

Matthews was born David Richard Matthews in Sonora, Kentucky. He earned a bachelor's degree in composition from the University of Cincinnati.

Career

Matthews has composed television soundtracks as well as albums with the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra. He is the leader of the Manhattan Jazz Quintet. Matthews was also the leader of the musical group the Grodeck Whipperjenny. In 1970, he began working as both an arranger and bandleader for James Brown. Matthews has worked with various musicians, including Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Rich, Idris Muhammad, and the Starland Vocal Band. He was staff arranger for Creed Taylor's CTI Records label during the mid-1970s, working on albums for artists such as George Benson, Esther Phillips, Grover Washington Jr., Hank Crawford, and Idris Muhammad. In 1977, he became one of the first artists to dedicate an entire composition to Frank Herbert's Dune, publishing an album that went by the same name. In 1978, Matthews arranged strings and orchestra and played piano on Nina Simone's album Baltimore. Matthews music has been heavily sampled by many hip-hop artists such as The Notorious B.I.G., Nas, MF DOOM, Method Man, Redman and Large Professor and others.

Discography

As leader

Appears on

Production

With O'Donel Levy

Interviews