‘This is my calling’: How this KC guitarist won a 3rd Grammy with renowned jazz group
.jpg "“I just fell in love with the instrument and I was still in high school when I decided I wanted to do wanted to do it full time. As I got older, I realized that this is my destiny. This is my calling,” says Will Matthews.")
Before Will Matthews was a Grammy Award-winning guitarist, traveling the globe with the internationally renowned Count Basie Orchestra, he was a young boy growing up on Kansas City’s East Side, listening to his grandfather play the blues on a guitar.
“That is where I got my appreciation for the guitar sound,” says Matthews. “I fell in love with the sound of the guitar from listening to my grandfather playing that old style of Mississippi Delta blues music, like Robert Johnson.”
The 66-year-old musician and educator received his third Grammy Award this month as the group won best large jazz ensemble for their album “Basie Swings the Blues.”
“Growing up was great for me because I was surrounded with music, it seemed,” says Matthews, who started taking private lessons when he received his first guitar at 13. “There was always some band rehearsing and you heard the sound of music all around and all the time, and it was great music.”
Matthews started learning songs he heard on the radio and playing in the church, seeing the role the guitar plays in various genres like gospel, pop and funk.
He began to see music as less of a hobby and more as the only choice for a career doing what he loved.
“When I first started playing, I practiced so much my mother got worried about me,” he says. “I just fell in love with the instrument and I was still in high school when I decided I wanted to do it full time. As I got older, I realized that this is my destiny. This is my calling.”
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After graduating from Lincoln High School, Matthews dedicated himself completely to music, working side jobs in the early years but never considering any other career.
He began to travel around the country, networking with established musicians. Building his reputation as an up-and-coming guitarist, Matthews played with various bands throughout the mid-1970s and ‘80s, including Kansas City natives like R&B group Bloodstone as well as trumpeter Carmell Jones.
A friend playing with the Count Basie Orchestra told him that their guitarist was leaving the band and that Matthews was being considered as a replacement. Matthews had also worked with the group’s singer, Carmen Bradford, who also referred him to the Basie band leader at the time, Grover Mitchell.
The Count Basie Orchestra was founded in 1934 in Kansas City by the legendary jazz band leader William “Count” Basie. The band, with 15 to 18 members, continued after his death in 1984 and gained a reputation as a top-tier ensemble.
Matthews had a life-long mantra of “being prepared when opportunity called” and when he received the call, he was ready. In January 1996, Matthews was invited to play during two rehearsals and afterward was formally offered the job.
He was performing with the band the very next day, and a couple of weeks later he found himself playing at the Royal Palace in Bangkok for King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand.
One year later, Matthews received his first Grammy for the group’s 1997 album, “Live at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild.” A second followed for their 1999 album, “Count Plays Duke.”
A quarter-century since their last Grammy win, Matthews says he and the band were overjoyed to receive the news of another award on Feb. 4 while they were eating dinner in a restaurant in Kentucky the night before a performance.
“We have been nominated for several Grammys throughout the years, so we are always hoping we would win,” he says. “I just cannot even explain the feeling. For me it was like winning the Super Bowl. It lets you know that you are doing things at a very high level and people appreciate what you do.”
Critics were full of praise when the album came out last year.
“It’s good to hear the Basie band stretch,” Allen Michie wrote for The Arts Fuse. “But it’s even better to hear them exult the blues with their own time-honored style leading the way.”
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In addition to Matthews’ success with the jazz orchestra, he also has released two solo albums: “Will Matthews Solo” in 2000 and 2009’s “Count on Swingin’.”
Aside from the Count Basie Orchestra, he plays in his own bands, the Saturday Night Trio and the Mood Swings, where he performs alongside his wife, Bea Gray, who plays the bass.
He also teaches guitar at the Kansas City Jazz Academy at the American Jazz Museum.
“I think the future of jazz is in good hands,” says Matthews. “We are nurturing the youth, they are the next generation and we want to have a continuum, of course. So it is great for Kansas City and great for music that these guys like (saxophonist) Houston Smith and (trumpeter) Chalis O’Neal are getting out and doing these things.”
When he is not touring, Matthews enjoys playing at his favorite venues in the city, like the Blue Room in the 18th and Vine Jazz District.
Even though he has won awards, performed on six continents and played with personal heroes like Kenny Burell and George Benson, Matthews never allows himself to grow complacent.
“There is always something to be learned and you can never stop trying to learn,” says Matthews. “The only way to get to this level is constantly working on your craft and perfecting your skills.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2024, 5:30 AM.
