Interview of Alan Matheson, 1, 2

Alan Matheson Jan 15 2015, Jan 26 2015 Born: James Alan Matheson. Born in Calgary, Alberta, March 29, 1959. Second eldest of four (two brothers and a younger sister). Father: Daniel Glenn Matheson. Born in Lac-Mégantic in Quebec Sept 15 1925. Went into the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1944, stationed in Borden, Ontario. Moved to Calgary after being stationed at Currie Barracks. Worked for Alberta Wheat Pool and became involved with Decca Records in the 1950's. Opened the first standalone record store in Calgary (Glenn's Music). By the time he sold the business to Columbia Records in 1972, he had expanded to two locations in Calgary and three in Vancouver. He also promoted concerts around Alberta like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Was involved with the White Heather fundraiser shows, and a lover of Jazz. He passed away in 2006. Paternal Grandfather: Daniel Matheson. Conductor for the Canadian Pacific Railway on trains through northern USA and into Quebec. Paternal Great-grandfather: Daniel Matheson. Grammar school teacher in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Immigrated to Canada in 1867 from the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Married a French woman from Bordeaux. Mother: Edith Joyce Deslan, born Nov 30 1926 in Calgary Alberta. Still living at time of interview. Went to nursing school and worked as a nurse at Calgary General Hospital and others until her first child was born in 1957. She also worked at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria for a time. Played a flute in the Calgary Junior Orchestra. Had a sister who also played piano and flute. Father: Born and raised in England, family from Isle of Jersey and Brittany, France. A talented flute player. Both parents were musical, especially his mother. His father was an avid collector of jazz records. Daniel was able to pick up a lot of American radio as a boy in the 1930s due to Lac-Mégantic's proximity to the border. He recalled going into record stores, and the clerks would sneer at him and pass him the "race record catalogue". Maternal Grandmother: Maiden name Howsen, born in Teeswater, Ontario in 1890. She was very proud of her Scottish roots and owned a brooch that had a MacKinnon slogan which read: "Fortune Favours the Daring". She moved to Calgary in 1906 at age 16. There was greater opportunity for her father, a shopkeeper, in the newly established city. They lived in a tent for a short time while the family home was being built. Her father established a business and she learned accounting skills, which led her to work at a bank in Pincher Creek, AB, where she met her husband. She was widowed in 1942, and returned to Pincher Creek as an accountant for the Alberta Wheat Pool. Alan would always ask her questions about her life, as he had been fascinated with history and her being witness to it. As a young girl in Ontario she had heard Sir Wilfred Laurier speak. Great-grandmother: Maiden name Fairburn, also related to MacKinnon family. Alan took piano lessons as a child from age 6, his maternal grandmother and aunt would take him to Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra performances, and the whole family was very musical. He was already fascinated with the idea of composing music at the age of 5. His father always had records around the house, and Alan took up the cornet after hearing a solo on a jazz record. He wanted to be a composer rather than a performer, and realized he could compose as he played. He found the cornet to be more lyrical than the trumpet, which always felt "brash" to him. His first Piano teacher was a Mount Royal College student named Beverley Jones in 1965. He had several teachers after moving to the Lower Mainland, the best of which was Abuelita Fraser, originally from Venezuela. He learned to play jazz by playing along with records, and was exposed to lots of live music through his father's concert promotion. He idolized Duke Ellington, and was lucky enough to hear him in Vancouver in 1973. His only trumpet instruction was through his school band (Cliff Drive Elementary, in Delta), aside from one instructor (who had studied under principal trumpet player in Vancouver Symphony) who corrected his technique. He was also heavily influenced by classical works like Bach. Alan talks about the need to set your ego aside as a musician to listen and learn from others. His future University teacher, Vincent Cichowicz, was one of the artists he would listen to on classical recordings. He would often go into his father's store on Sundays and sit in the listening booth, exploring new music. His number one mentor was Dave Robbins, founder of the Music School at Vancouver Community College, as well as a teacher at the Courtney Youth Music Camp. He had Alan sit in with the VCC Big Band when still in high school. Dave also encouraged him to develop a Jazz History class. Alan attended VCC in 1976. He attended Humber College for a year, but ultimately auditioned for the music program at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois under Cichowicz. While in Chicago he encountered the famous trumpet player Cootie Williams, as well as bass player "Truck" Parham, who both made large impressions on him. Truck would occasionally let him sit in on sessions at a venue called Andy's. Mentors were very generous with their time to young musicians who showed dedication. At that time, students at Northwestern University "self-segregated" themselves to a degree, however, Alan found by and large he did not run into many issues regarding race in the music community. Northwestern University had a high quality of teachers, students, and "intellectual rigor" which provided a rich learning experience for Alan. He wound up playing a lot of jazz piano during "jam sessions" with fellow students. He held an informal jazz session in 1980, which was uncommon, and continues to be to the time of interview. Alan discusses how there are few of these jazz "jam sessions" in Vancouver in 2015. He featured Canadian composers such as Phil Nimmons in his final University recital, organizing his own big band. As a child, Alan was regularly featured on a radio show called "The Romper Room", as father had connections to the local radio station in Calgary. He would discuss records and music. Alan studied orchestration and composition under Stephen Chatman at the University of British Columbia. He never tried to emulate any particular musician in his solo playing. He says a player's style has to come from an emotional response rather than an intellectual or theoretical one. Alan demonstrates his method of practicing music, including "singing it out" to practice articulation and phrasing, on the recording. He would "fool around" on other instruments, such as clarinet and saxophone, but never tried string instruments. He has composed arrangements for violin/string quartets. Classical composers like Stravinsky, Tubin, and Tormis inspire Alan – his wife is Estonian, which led him to become interested in Estonian artists. He was not competition minded and did not enter many. He played in the New Westminster Stage Band Festival one year. He feels judging a jazz competition can be more difficult than classical. He does a lot of adjudication work. Most of his compositions have been jazz, aside from some soprano and piano, including a piece inspired by John Dunn's poetry. Alan met his wife Rina in 1978 at Vancouver Community College, where she was an ESL instructor. Alan played with the Vancouver Youth Orchestra while attending high school. He joined the Musician's Association at 18, and was working and going to school. While in Toronto at Humber College, he played in the Humber A Band, had wonderful listening experiences in the jazz clubs and sat in with Warner Vache. He has played on and off with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as an adult. This has given him the opportunity to play with many talented musicians. He has taught at Vancouver Community College, University of British Columbia, and Capilano University. In 2015, many secondary schools in the Lower Mainland have jazz ensembles and strong music programs, but few elementary schools have bands. Alan notes the difference in students who begin earlier in life. He also notices a decline in live music in venues around Vancouver. In the 1970's-1980's there was a similar problem on the city, due to the strict rules around liquor licences, which help fund live musicians. Clark Terry was another notable player, who soloed one of Alan's arrangements. Alan has never been to Scotland, and wishes he knew more about his heritage. He doesn't attend Robbie Burns, however, his wife used to organize ceilidhs when she worked at the Scottish Cultural Centre in Vancouver, which Alan would play at. Looking back on his life, he doesn't have many regrets, and has no plans to retire anytime soon.