Mathieson, Greg (25th February 1950-Present)

He is a keyboardist, arranger and producer born in Los Angeles, California, who began learning to play the piano when he was ten years old. When he was fourteen he also began playing the trumpet at school, although continued with his piano studies, adding harmony tuition from Stan Kenton’s arranger, Ken Hanna. He took his further education at the Valley College, where he was a member of the California State Championship winning “A” jazz band, and then at the California State University, Northridge from 1970 to 1971.

A career in music was calling though, so he started playing at local private events before performing at various clubs, including as part of a duo with Al Jarreau, whose band he became a member of. He took over from Edgar Winter in the band White Trash and also became a member of Al Jarreau’s band. In 1974 he began touring with Helen Reddy and once that had finished in 1976 he took on another two year tour with Olivia Newton John and performed on two the chart hits “Hopelessly Devoted To You” and “You’re the One That I Want” from the soundtrack of Grease. At the same time as this tour he formed his own fusion band in 1977 and began making appearances at jazz clubs.

He met up with the guitarist Larry Carlton and his association with him has led to at least four album recordings and countless live performances, which are still going on. He decided to stop touring in 1978 and just concentrate on session playing in Los Angeles and this led him to not only performing, but also becoming a much sought after string and horn arranger.

Soon he was performing and arranging hit records for some of the major artists such as “MacArthur Park” and “Heaven Knows” by Donna Summer and “Enough is Enough” by Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand and also working on movie soundtracks such as Midnght Express.

This still wasn’t enough for him to get his teeth into so he ventured into producing as well as performing and made his name known early on in this guise with hits such as “Gloria” by Laura Branigan, “Mickey” by Tony Basil and four Top 10 hits and two platinum albums for Sheena Easton. He also continued with his own recordings and 1981 saw the release of Super Live at the Baked Potato from a concert he performed with Pops Popwell of the Jazz Crusaders and Jeff Porcaro and Steve Lukather of Toto.

Five years later he released For My Friends, recorded with several renowned guest artists, which became a Top 5 hit album in the Billboard Jazz Chart. During the 1990s he spread his wings by producing and performing with his band in Europe and the 2000s have seen him releasing at least 4 albums with his “The Jazz Ministry”.

The acts he has worked with during the course of his career as a musician, arranger or producer are countless and include Alex Acuna, Christina Aguilera, Alessi Brothers, Stephen Bishop, Cerrone, City Boy, Jimmy Cliff, Joe Cocker, The Commodores, Paulinho Da Costa, David Foster, The Four Tops, Leif Garrett, Jay Graydon, Faith Hill, Thelma Houston, Hues Corporation, Billy Idol, Julio Iglesias, Gladys Knight, Greg Lake, Michael Landau, D.C. LaRue, Nils Lofgren, Melissa Manchester, The Manhattan Transfer, Martha & The Vandellas, Giorgio Moroder, Nazareth, Juice Newton, Les Paul, Lee Ritenour, Demis Roussos, Seals & Croft, Simple Minds, The Stylistics, Tavares, The Three Degrees, Randy Travis, Tina Turner, Frankie Valli, Carlos Vega, Dionne Warwick, The Weather Girls, Deniece Williams and Syreeta Wright.

The many albums he has appeared on under various guises include his own Another Night at the Baked Potato, Live at the Bake Potato, West Coast Groove and Laboriel/Mathieson with Abraham Laboriel Sr. as well as Fandango by Herb Alpert, Best of the Casablanca Years by Cher, United by The Commodores, It’s All in the Game by Engelbert Humperdinck, Jarreau by Al Jarreau, Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones by Quincy Jones, Rescue Me by Tom Jones, Love Performance by Olivia Newton John, Stop and Smell the Roses by Ringo Starr, Songbird by Barbra Streisand, Live and More by Donna Summer and the soundtracks of American Flyers, Elmo in Grouchland, Gigli, Quicksilver and Unfaithfully Yours.

An international and national live performer, he has appeared in many venues dotted all over the globe and on TV programmes such as The Midnight Special and Saturday Night Live.

Here he is on keyboards performing “Goyo” with Abraham Laboriel and Jose Castillo…

Sources:

Mathieson, Greg (25th February 1950-Present)

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