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Topic: Phil Mathieu passes & services information |
Ted Smouse
From:
Austin, Texas USA
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Posted 11 Feb 2012 11:11 am |
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Very sad news to report. Phil Mathieu, of the Washington, DC, area, passed away yesterday, February 10, 2012.
Recognized for being one of the finest musicians in the area, he excelled two different musical worlds: Roots country, honky tonk, roots/rock, rockabilly and Americana -and- in the Classical music world as well. Phil was lead guitarist with Ruthie and the Wranglers for over 10 years, during which time Phil and the band received numerous "Best" Wammie awards from the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA), including Country Instrumentalist and Roots/Rock Instrumentalist. Phil was a master of the Telecaster and B-Bender Telecaster Fender guitars. Phil also played mandolin. During his time with the group he appeared on The Nashville Network, including Crook and Chase, and This Week In Country Music.
At the same time, and even more so in recent years, he was highly regarded for his work with classical and jazz genres. He was awarded "Best Classical Instrumentalist" numerous times by WAMA. He performed with the John F. Kennedy Center opera house orchestra and the National Gallery orchestra, as well as productions at Arena Stage and Ford's Theatre. He had also been a member of the prestigious Washington Guitar Quintet led by Charlie Byrd. Phil was also a music teacher, including at Montgomery College in Rockville, MD.
Here is what fellow Washington, DC area guitarist, Gantt Kushner, said this week about Phil on the Gear Page site:
"Phil Mathieu - one of the Washington, DC area's finest guitarists and people, is in the ICU at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, MD. He is fighting severe septic shock. I'm shamelessly asking for prayers and positive energy from any and all. Phil is a wonderful guitarist in many genres - his two loves are classical and country & western (weird but true!) and he also excels at jazz, rock'n'roll and most anything involving a fretted instrument. He has also played many shows in the DC area - being one of the few guitar players who can read anything you put in front of him. He was the guitar player for Ruthie and the Wranglers and has played with many other well known artists around our area. If you have a moment please send him some Good Mojo. God's in charge and prayer is a powerful thing! Thanks!"
More information about Phil can be found:
http://www.mathieumusic.com
http://www.ruthieandthewranglers.com
http://www.wamadc.org
Prayers to out to Phil, his family and friends.
Ted Smouse
_________________
Ted Smouse
General Manager & Program Director
SteelRadio
Austin, Texas
SteelRadio.org@gmail.com
https://www.steelradio.org
-a 501(c)(3) “Not For Profit” Organization
Last edited by Ted Smouse on 15 Feb 2012 4:03 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Ted Smouse
From:
Austin, Texas USA
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Posted 15 Feb 2012 4:02 pm
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Philip Mathieu
PHILIP MATHIEU
Local Washington, DC area award-winning classical instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and teacher, age 50, died February 10, 2012, at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, MD, due to complications of liver disease. A highly accomplished musician who performed in all genres, Phil was a member of the prestigious Washington Guitar Quintet led by Charlie Byrd, lead guitarist for Ruthie and the Wranglers, and was regularly contracted for orchestra work at the John F. Kennedy Center Opera House, The Hippodrome, Ford's Theater, Arena Stage, and other venues. Most recently, Phil taught classical guitar at Montgomery College, Rockville, and was a founding member of the Potomac Guitar Quartet. Phil received a Bachelor of Music degree from George Mason University.<br>
Phil is survived by his beloved partner in life Ruthie Logsdon of Takoma Park, MD; mother Maguerite Mathieu of Silver Spring, MD; brother Stephen Mathieu (Lisa) of Reston, VA; sister Darlene Burris (Russell) of Winston Salem, NC; six nieces; and hundreds of friends. Family will receive friends and visitors at the Robert A. Pumphrey Funeral Home at 300 W. Montgomery Avenue, Rockville, MD, on Friday, February 17, 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. A funeral service will take place Saturday, February 18, 12 noon at Shrine of St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church, 12701 Veirs Mill Road, Rockville, MD, with reception to follow.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to either Audubon Society (to donate by credit card, call Maryland-DC chapter at 410-558-2473; by check, mail to Audubon Maryland-DC, ATTN: Suzanna, 2901 E. Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21224) or to the Hepatitis Foundation
International (visit http://www.hepfi.org/
donate/index.htm). When contributing to either, please indicate that you are making a donation in memory of Philip Mathieu.
Published in The Washington Post on February 15, 2012
_________________
Ted Smouse
General Manager & Program Director
SteelRadio
Austin, Texas
SteelRadio.org@gmail.com
https://www.steelradio.org
-a 501(c)(3) “Not For Profit” Organization |
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Dave Ziebarth
From:
Rockville, MD
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Posted 12 Mar 2012 8:17 am Wash. Post Appreciation of Phil Mathieu
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The Washington Post ran a nice article about Phil Mathieu over the weekend:
Local life: Phil Mathieu versatile D.C. area guitarist
By Terence McArdle, Published: March 10
Phil Mathieu played in a country and rockabilly band and performed Argentine tangos and Brazilian cholo music with his own classical guitar ensemble. He championed forgotten American composers from other centuries and played their waltzes, polkas and fandangos lyrically on nylon-string guitars.
For a theater pit band, he once learned the kalimba — the thumb piano from sub-Saharan Africa.
Mr. Mathieu, perhaps one of the most protean of Washington area guitarists, took musical dexterity to extraordinary lengths. It paid off with 12 Washington Area Music Association Awards, better known as the Wammies, during his career. Nine were for best classical instrumentalist, and three were for best classical recording.
On Feb. 10, Mr. Mathieu died at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring of complications from a liver ailment, said his partner of seven years, singer Ruthie Logsdon. He was 50.
Mr. Mathieu (pronounced Matthew) was one of the region’s top guitarists, said David Eisner, founder of the Institute of Musical Traditions, a Takoma Park-based nonprofit group that produces concerts and workshops. “If he were a baseball player, they’d say he was a five-tool player,” said Eisner, likening him to an athlete with all the skills needed to excel.
From 1997 to 2009, Mr. Mathieu was a mainstay of Logsdon’s country and rockabilly band, Ruthie and the Wranglers. “He makes even the fastest, jaw-dropping solos look all too easy,” music critic Buzz McClain wrote in The Washington Post.
In theater work, Mr. Mathieu excelled at “doubling” — the practice of playing more than one instrument for additional pay. He doubled on mandolin, several types of guitar and even such non-string instruments as the harmonica and the kalimba.
Wranglers bassist Greg Hardin once suggested that Mr. Mathieu combine two of his favorite styles — the Argentine tango of Astor Piazzolla and the surf rock of the Ventures — in one composition. He proceeded to write and record “SurfTango.”
Beyond his technical and creative prowess, Mr. Mathieu delighted in the absurdities that often came with the job.
“He had all the skills that they never prepare you for in music school, [such as] convincing a party planner that having you stand on a table while you play is not in the best interests of the music or the event,” said Bruno Nasta, a classical violinist who worked with Mr. Mathieu.
Nasta recalled that he and Mr. Mathieu once worked together at a Christmas office party at which the two musicians were escorted from cubicle to cubicle to play 21 / 2 minutes of carols for puzzled workers.
“Every time we’re taking solos and beginning to bond as musicians, they tell us we have to stop and move on,” Nasta said.
“Phil said, ‘Why didn’t someone tell us this was a Christmas job? We could have dressed up in Santa suits.’ Well, this manager got a nervous look on his face. It turned out they had been robbed during a Halloween party by someone dressed as a clown, and this was why we were being escorted.”
Philip Joseph Mathieu was born Nov. 30, 1961, in Rockville, where he graduated from Robert E. Peary High School in 1979.
After playing electric guitar in teen bands, Mr. Mathieu studied jazz and then classical guitar, first at Montgomery College in Rockville. He received a bachelor’s degree in music from George Mason University in 1989, where he studied under guitarist Jeffrey Meyerriecks.
Meyerriecks recruited Mr. Mathieu for Charlie Byrd’s Washington Guitar Quintet in 1992 after the death of John Marlow. The quintet — all guitarists — combined classical repertoire and jazz improvisation in equal measure.
In 2006, he started his own ensemble, the Potomac Guitar Quartet, with Meyerriecks, Peter Fields and Brian Litz. The group had an unusually diverse repertoire — Brazilian cholo music, surf hits by the Ventures and works by American composers from other eras, such as Stephen Foster, William Foden and Francis Johnson — most of it arranged by Mr. Mathieu.
The neglected guitar music of Foden (1860-1947) was a personal cause for Mr. Mathieu. An album of Foden’s music, “American Music for Two Guitars,” by Mr. Mathieu and Giorgia Cavallaro, earned the two guitarists a 2005 Wammie for best classical recording.
Survivors include Logsdon, of Takoma Park; his mother, Marge Mathieu of Silver Spring; a brother, Stephen Mathieu of Oak Hill; and a sister, Darlene Burris of Winston-Salem, N.C.
Mr. Mathieu played more than 200 jobs a year, many of them private bookings. It was a grueling, stressful schedule that occasionally led to mistakes — and quick saves.
Litz once received a frantic call from Mr. Mathieu, who was doing a wedding reception with a flutist. He had gone to the reception from a rehearsal and found his guitar case empty.
“I pulled up in my car, and I could hear the flute player [already] doing the prelude,” Litz said. “Phil quickly put the guitar around his neck and walked into the patio playing like a strolling musician — as though it were part of the show.” |
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Ted Smouse
From:
Austin, Texas USA
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