Join us:
One week from today, March 1 @jazzschool1997 Berkeley CA! 
Two weeks from today, March 8 @TheNashJazz Phoenix AZ!

 

 

In case you missed it, here's the video footage from our recent performance at Chandler Center for the Arts in Arizona. Use the view complete concert link to watch the show in its entirety, or select individual songs from the playlist below. Enjoy! ~DM
















The Great American Songbook

Dmitri Matheny Group featuring Clairdee
Chandler Center for the Arts
Chandler, Arizona

August 16, 2013
 

View Complete Concert

 

It Ain't Necessarily So (Instrumental)

Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You (Instrumental)

Blues In The Night (Instrumental)

Drop Me Off In Harlem (Vocal)

Time After Time (Vocal)

Sunday In New York (Vocal)

Tonight (Vocal)

 

Stardust (Instrumental)

Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin' (Instrumental)

It Could Happen To You (Instrumental)

Put On A Happy Face (Vocal)

Count Your Blessings (Vocal)

What Is This Thing Called Love (Vocal)

They Can't Take That Away From Me (Vocal)
 

Dmitri Matheny flugelhorn

Clairdee vocals

Andrew Gross tenor saxophone

Nick Manson piano

T-Bone Sistrunk bass

John Lewis drums

 

"A visionary. Matheny's flugelhorn is both hot and cool, 

wide of range and brilliantly imaginative." 

—San Francisco Examiner

 

Flugelhornist Dmitri Matheny will share the stage with celebrated vocalist Clairdee in a salute to The Great American Songbook on Friday, August 16, 7:30 pm, at Chandler Center for the Arts.

 

The free concert will showcase favorite Broadway and Hollywood hits of the 1920s though the 60s, including works by George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington and more.

 

Celebrated for his warm tone, soaring lyricism and masterful technique, American musician Dmitri Matheny has been lauded as "the first breakthrough flugelhornist since Chuck Mangione" (San Jose Mercury News). Matheny is an honors graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and the Berklee College of Music, Boston. First introduced to jazz audiences in the 1990s as the protégé of Art Farmer, Matheny has matured into "one of the jazz world's most talented horn players" (SF Chronicle), touring internationally and releasing nine critically acclaimed CDs.

 

"Clairdee is among the most skilled and appealing singers around...fine songs, beautiful voice, great moves" raves the San Francisco Examiner. Following in the tradition of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Wilson, Clairdee's genuine manner of conveying emotion and giving each word a clear, personal touch makes her one of America's best singers in any genre.

 

The Chandler Center for the Arts is an acoustic masterpiece, providing a superb quality of sound for live performances. Over the past twenty-one years, thousands of patrons have been entertained, educated, thrilled and inspired in this beautifully designed and elegant facility, enjoying a broad range of music, dance, comedy, drama and family programs.

Next weekend, on Friday, August 16, the celebrated San Francisco vocalist Clairdee will join with the Dmitri Matheny Group in a salute to The Great American Songbook at Chandler Center for the Arts in Chandler, Arizona.

 

Presented free-of-charge as part of the arts center's "On The House" summer series, the program will showcase our favorite Broadway and Hollywood hits of the 1920s though the 60s, including works by George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington and more. Sharing the stage with us are saxophonist Andrew Gross, pianist Nick Manson, bassist T-Bone Sistrunk and drummer John Lewis.

 

If you've never yet experienced Clairdee in concert, you're in for a treat.

 

Clairdee possesses a beautiful, generous spirit that carries over into her song craft. On stage, she comports herself with effortless grace. She is unpretentious, charming and charismatic, and her performances convey a welcoming air of hospitality. Each member of the audience feels as if we've been invited to a cool, convivial party, and Clairdee is our elegant hostess.

 

Clairdee's vocal gifts are many. Her soulfully alluring style and rich vocal timbre reveal roots in the gospel church. She has an intimate, vulnerable and gentle way with a ballad, yet can swing or shout at will. Clairdee is that most exciting kind of jazz singer — the kind who always keeps a little rousing R&B in her back pocket.

 

Finally, as a song stylist and interpreter of lyrics, Clairdee is unmatched. Her diction is incredibly precise (all too rare today). She is aware of the meaning and feeling behind every phrase, all of which she communicates with winning sincerity and warmth.

 

Performing with Clairdee is, for us, a giant joy. 

 

We hope you can join us for this very special evening.

~DM

I know what you're thinking. 

 

You're asking yourself, "Who should I go see on August 16th? 

 

Chloë is at the Cineplex, but Clairdee is at Chandler Center for the Arts!"

 

Well friend, it's a no-brainer.

 

Movie houses are a dime-a-dozen, but Chandler's celebrated multi-use theater is a one-of-a-kind, elegant marvel of acoustical engineering.

 

Chloë & Aaron will be fake crime-fighting together for weeks. Clairdee & Dmitri are real life artist-warriors, appearing together for one-night-only. 

 

Their show is overpriced. Our show is free, and we do ALL our own stunts!

 

Most importantly, San Francisco vocal sensation Clairdee is the Original "Hit Girl," singing and swinging Broadway and Hollywood hits like nobody's business.

 

And is there anything more Kick-Ass than The Great American Songbook? 

We don't think so.

The offices of Matheny Music will be closed today, Wednesday, May 8, 2013,
in celebration of the Iron Man & Higley Hot Dogs Day holiday.
(It's good to be the boss.)  ~DM

Across the plaza from Civic Space Park (where guitarist Stan Sorenson and I played a noontime concert today) stands one of the most interesting and historic buildings in downtown Phoenix: the Westward Ho.


 

Upon its grand opening in 1928, the neo-Renaissance Westward Ho was the tallest structure in the area (16 stories!) and one of the most elegant hotels in the west, with vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows and beautiful tiled floors.


 

Over the years, the hotel accumulated its share of fame.


 

Jack Benny broadcast radio shows from the Westward Ho during World War II.


 

Elizabeth Taylor kept a suite at the hotel and dined in its restaurant, Top of the Ho.


 

Paul Newman filmed a scene for the 1972 movie Pocket Money there.


 

Robert Wagner married Natalie Wood on the hotel patio.


 

Marilyn Monroe filmed the parade scene in Bus Stop (1956) on Central Avenue in front of the Westward Ho and is said to have gone for a moonlight swim (without a suit!) in the hotel pool.


 

Some of the Ho's other famous guests include John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Roy Rogers, Jackie Gleason, Myrna Loy, Amelia Earhart, Esther Williams, Danny Thomas, Gary Cooper, Lucille Ball, Clark Gable, Henry Fonda, Bob Hope, Liberace, Lee Marvin, Tyrone Power, Eleanor Roosevelt, Shirley Temple, Al Capone, Spencer Tracy and John Wayne.


 

Contrary to popular belief, the Westward Ho does not appear in the opening sequence of the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho, but is featured in the 1998 Gus Van Sant remake.


 

A 280-foot television broadcast antenna, added to the hotel's rooftop in 1949, is now used as a cell phone tower.


 

In 1980, after 52 years, the Westward Ho hotel closed for business and was converted to subsidized housing for the elderly and mobility impaired. 

The building is now recognized on the National Register of Historic Places.

"I have such tremendous affection for the West that I would want anyone I love to experience it and to see it and to spend as much time there as possible. I would definitely want that experience for my family, but it's also not entirely a romantic thing. I mean, I don't want to romanticize the experiences of people who are living in rural, poor communities...or the desert. Our dominant cultural narrative totally devalues all three of those things: rural, poor and desert. So there was a sense when I was there that you're often told that where you are is not valuable or important. Just think about the way we talk about the desert as a wasteland or the middle of nowhere or it's barren. That's a really bizarre phenomenon, when you've spent your whole life in a place and then the culture tells you it actually doesn't even exist, and if it does exist, it's worthless. That's a bit of a heady place to be, I think, and that's partly what I was looking for with this book, was getting a portrait of the place that had never before been presented to me."

 

~Battleborn author Claire Vaye Watkins on NPR Fresh Air

On This Day

 

March 7, 1995

Visions of Kerouac Premiere

Dmitri Matheny & The SOMA Ensemble

Yoshi's Nightspot

Oakland, California

 

March 7, 1999

In-Store Appearance

Dmitri Matheny Group

Borders Books & Music

Emeryville, California

 

March 7, 2007

Arizona Jazz Week

UA Studio Jazz Ensemble with Dmitri Matheny

Crowder Hall - University of Arizona