• NEWS
  • ABOUT
    • Bio
    • Awards
    • DMG
    • Beleza!
    • Horn
    • Commissions
  • MUSIC
    • DM Radio
  • EDUCATION
    • Lessons
    • Classes
    • Workshops
  • TOUR
    • Celebrate Cascadia!
    • Tour Support
    • Touring History
  • BLOG
  • MEDIA
    • Radio
    • Videos
    • Press Kit
    • Reviews
    • Interviews
    • Newsletters
    • Quotes
  • DISCOGRAPHY
    • 2022 Cascadia
    • 2016 Jazz Noir
    • 2014 Sagebrush Rebellion
    • 2010 Grant & Matheny
    • 2008 Best of Dmitri Matheny
    • 2007 Spiritu Sancto
    • 2006 The SnowCat
    • 2005 Nocturne
    • 2000 Santa's Got a Brand New Bag
    • 1998 Starlight Cafe
    • 1996 Penumbra
    • 1995 Red Reflections
  • SHOP
  • CONTACT

DMITRI MATHENY

  • NEWS
  • ABOUT
    • Bio
    • Awards
    • DMG
    • Beleza!
    • Horn
    • Commissions
  • MUSIC
    • DM Radio
  • EDUCATION
    • Lessons
    • Classes
    • Workshops
  • TOUR
    • Celebrate Cascadia!
    • Tour Support
    • Touring History
  • BLOG
  • MEDIA
    • Radio
    • Videos
    • Press Kit
    • Reviews
    • Interviews
    • Newsletters
    • Quotes
  • DISCOGRAPHY
    • 2022 Cascadia
    • 2016 Jazz Noir
    • 2014 Sagebrush Rebellion
    • 2010 Grant & Matheny
    • 2008 Best of Dmitri Matheny
    • 2007 Spiritu Sancto
    • 2006 The SnowCat
    • 2005 Nocturne
    • 2000 Santa's Got a Brand New Bag
    • 1998 Starlight Cafe
    • 1996 Penumbra
    • 1995 Red Reflections
  • SHOP
  • CONTACT

Viewing: Advocacy - View all posts

COURSE CORRECTION

A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s heaven for? 
—Robert Browning 

About a year ago I wrote an obituary for my father. 

I sorted through his letters and personal papers, created a list of his educational…

Read more

RESOLUTIONS 2022 | The Year of CASCADIA

 


Health 

Recommit to OMAD, black coffee, and portion control. 
Plant new salad vegetables in the garden. 
Walk every day before the evening meal. 
Curtail alcohol consumption. 
Prioritize memory work. 

Music 
Perform mostly songs from the new album. 
Expand…

Read more

THE SECRET


When I first met my hero Art Farmer, he was spending half his year at home in Vienna and the other half on tour.

Occasionally concert promoters would pony up for his New York band, but most of the…

Read more

KINKAKU-JI

“The foundation of any national character is human nature.”
―Vasily Grossman
 

Of all the many magical places I’ve encountered in my travels, Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto’s Temple of the Golden Pavilion, is one of the most magnificent. Set…

Read more

REFLECTIONS ON 9/11

“War, what is it good for? 
Absolutely nothing.” 

—Barrett Strong 


On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, I was at home in Berkeley, drinking my first cup of coffee and viewing the Today show when the news broke…

Read more

UP IN THE AIR | PART 3 — CITIZEN OF THE WORLD

“Remember, you’re not alone. 
You’re part of an international 
brotherhood of artists and musicians. 
We’re all in this together.” 

—Art Farmer 


I aspire to be a Citizen of the World. 

A world citizen is a xenophile whose identity…

Read more

UP IN THE AIR | PART 2 — SEASONED TRAVELER

“You've taken your first step into a larger world.” 
—Obi-Wan Kenobi 

 

When I was first starting out, my mentor Art Farmer told me what it really takes to persevere in this business. “Do you like to travel?” he…

Read more

SAVE OUR STAGES

All the world’s a stage, 
and all the men and women merely players. 
They have their exits and their entrances, 
and one man in his time plays many parts.
 
—William Shakespeare 


Don’t it always seem to go 
that you
…

Read more

HIGH ANXIETY

“It’s not just about me and my dream
of doing nothing. It
’s about all of us!”

—Peter Gibbons

“Now is the age of anxiety.”
—W.H. Auden 

“Don’t make me dance.”…

Read more

THE HUNKER BUNKER REPORT | PART 5 — THE ROAD AHEAD


“Adulthood and what they call maturity is 
the slow acceptance of what you will never be.” 
—Bryan Callen 


“Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die.” 
—Jason Isbell 


As of today, about 71 million Americans have been…

Read more

THE HUNKER BUNKER REPORT | PART 4 — WHAT I LEARNED IN LOCKDOWN

“Honor the space between no longer and not yet.” 
—Nancy Levin 

“COVID-19 has taught us that life and health are precarious. 
We must not squander precious time.” 

—Tom Hanks 

This series of missives from the hunker bunker offer…

Read more

THE HUNKER BUNKER REPORT | PART 3 — MENTAL HEALTH & SOCIAL CONNECTION


“I enjoyed the time out! I loved the fact that nobody had to achieve anything. 
And the light at the end of the tunnel is stressing me out.” 

—Neal Brennan 
 

After a full year of hunkering down and hiding…

Read more

THE HUNKER BUNKER REPORT | PART 2 — FISCAL HEALTH

As a rule, professional bandleaders operate with neither job security nor a financial safety net.  We work gig to gig, operating on the slimmest of margins, without salary or benefits. We aren’t eligible for unemployment and many of us cannot…

Read more

THE HUNKER BUNKER REPORT | PART 1 — PHYSICAL HEALTH

One year ago this week, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic and we began sheltering in place. 

I took the warnings seriously, even though staying home meant figuring out how to pay the bills while simultaneously…

Read more

JAZZ COMPETITION IS AN OXYMORON

Damien Chazelle’s 2014 film Whiplash follows the fraught relationship between a brutally masochistic music teacher, Fletcher (J.K Simmons), and his ambitious student, drummer Andrew (Miles Teller). 

According to Slate critic J. Bryan Lowder, “Fletcher and Andrew are both obsessed…

Read more

FAME! PART 4 — JUST SOME JAZZ GUY

“Stars twinkle until they wrinkle.” 
—Victor Mature 

That was well over 20 years ago. Since then I’ve weathered many career ups and downs, working both with and without the support of managers, agents, publicists and investors. 

Although I’m…

Read more

FAME! PART 2 — JAZZ FAMOUS?

If Interlochen was an artist colony, Berklee was a star factory.  

By the late 1980s, Berklee College of Music had established itself as a global center for music education, attracting talented students from all around the world. From its…

Read more

CHET BAKER & THE SOUND OF SINCERITY

Clockwise (L-R) bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse, Chet Baker, Dmitri Matheny at the Chet Baker Memorial in Amsterdam

 

The first Chet Baker recording I ever heard was not one of his celebrated cool jazz hits from back when he looked…

Read more

LONG IN THE TOOTH

Welp, I just turned 55.  

Now eligible for senior discounts at the diner. 

Damn. The years really sneak up on you, don’t they? 

The recent loss of my father during the navel-gazing of quarantine has only…

Read more

RESOLUTIONS 2021: The Year of Renewal

Health 
Drink water. Eat vegetables. Take naps. Pace yourself.  
Cleaner fasts, more colorful feasts, smaller portions. 
Spend more time outdoors: walking, riding, fishing. 
Expand vegetable garden with new crops. 
Get vaccinated as soon as possible. 

Music 
Prepare arrangements…

Read more

Gig Safety Protocol

2020 RESOLUTIONS

Get up. 

Stay up. 

Move up. 

Barry White is right!

So is James Brown:

ON DOING WHAT'S RIGHT

2017 RESOLUTIONS

The year of community. 
 

Put down roots. Carve out a niche. Make new friends. Be a good neighbor. 

Cultivate relationships close to home. Favor work within the region. 

Learn the local ways. Meet the leadership and form…

Read more

JUST DO IT

Load more posts
©1996-2022 Dmitri Matheny. All Rights Reserved.
  • Log out