Traveling musician shares passionate mindset

Nationally renowned flugelhornist Dmitri Matheny, 50, continues to wow his audiences with his graceful tone and technique. This week, he worked with MHCC Jazz Ensemble and performed Wednesday as the guest soloist as the Mt. Hood musicians showed off their musical skills in the Visual Arts Theatre.

Matheny is currently touring schools and colleges across the West to host improvisation workshops, focusing on the mental process of performing instrumental solos and improvising skills.

“Little babies, toddlers, are natural improvisers,” he said. “If you sing a song to kid, and teach it to a kid, at 4 or 5 years old, you go away and come back, the kid will have changed it and made their own lyrics They’re fearless.”

When people decide that they’re interested in pursuing music, they often become shy with going outside the box. As a musician and teacher, Matheny wants to encourage musicians and those interested in pursuing music to have the confidence in creating different tunes and in what they’re feeling.

“Music is this very emotional and spiritual thing,” he said with evident  passion, “and to just call it ‘organized sound’ sound(s) very mechanical, like a computer or robot can do it.”

Matheny says he became interested in music at a young age when he heard his father play a Miles Davis record. When he heard the track, the excitement was immediate, and he thought, “Well, that’s what I wanna do when I grow up, I want to play jazz.”

Ambitious to play an instrument, he began playing the piano at 5 years old,  and then trumpet at age 9.  He said the reason he didn’t start with trumpet earlier was his music teacher had told him he was ‘too young’ to play it and that he had to wait a few years more.

Throughout his career, Matheny has been considered the protégé of famous trumpeter and flugelhornist Arthur Stewart Farmer (Art Farmer), whom he says was his hero and role model. Matheny added that he’s had the chance to work with Farmer, saying that he inspired him to switch from trumpet to flugelhorn – a slightly longer, bugle-like brass horn – at age 18.

“It made me feel terrified,” he said, happily recounting his decision. “I don’t think I can ever live up to his (Farmer’s) standards. He was such an amazing musician.”

Also performing with the Mt. Hood musicians on Wednesday was Charles McNeal, an outstanding saxophonist.

Matheny is scheduled to perform in the area again later in December. His Dmitri Matheny Group will play at the five-0-three restaurant and bar in West Linn on Dec. 23, starting at 6:30 p.m.

For those interested in learning more about his background future performances, go to: dmitrimatheny.com.