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ROB IS ASKED BY PHIL RAMONE TO ARRANGE TRACKS ON NEW ROD STEWART RECORD AND A DUETS RECORD WITH OPERA SUPERSTARS RENEE FLEMING AND BRYN TERFEL -
Clive Davis called Phil Ramone in to work on a long awaited record of older songs sung by Rod Stewart. The record has utilized the talents of almost every great arranger in America. Clive is very
picky and is only happy once it is exactly right. The album should be wonderful and will be out in the fall.
Rob also arranged some Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Cole Porter for
opera superstars Renee Fleming and Bryn Terfel, two of the finest voices in the world. The record was recorded in Wales in three days with the Welsh National Orchestra. Rob had to complete five scores
within a week, correct them and mail them to Wales to be performed and recorded. The sessions went beautifully thanks to Phil Ramone's production expertise and the conducting of longtime
Sondheim music director Paul Gemingiani.
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ROB PREMIERED THE ENTIRE EVENING TRAIN RECORD
AT THE BOTTOM LINE ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14TH - Thanks to Steve Lurie who got a copy of Evening Train to Bottom Line owner Allan Pepper. He loved the record. He agreed to put on a show featuring Rob's full band and six piece horn section. They performed two packed shows on Saturday night, September 14th. Will Lee was on Bass, Shawn Pelton on Drums, Billy Masters on Guitar, Ricky Knutsen on Keyboards and Rob's six piece Horn section featuring Jeff Kievit on Lead Trumpet were also in attendance. They performed the entire Evening Train record which is now available on Rob's new web site RobMathesMusic.com as well as some other material, both old and new. (Evening Train has interest from some indy labels but Rob is taking his time deciding on where its' eventual home will be, it being his magnum opus for lack of a less pretentious term.) It was slammin'!!!!
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BACK IN NASHVILLE WORKING WITH FAMED NASHVILLE PRODUCER BYRON GALLIMORE (Faith Hill, Tim McGraw)-
Rob flew down to Nashville in March to write
strings for Mercury artist Marcel and country star Terri Clark, both produced by Byron. Marcel's single "Tennessee", soon to be released features a big, bold Mathes string chart.
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ROB IS CALLED BACK TO WORK WITH TONY BENNETT AND K.D. LANG-
Tony Bennett, after the retirement of long time Pianist Ralph Sharon, replaced him with
the wonderful Lee Musiker. He still wanted Rob around, however, as consultant and vocal arranger on the new Louis Armstrong tribute album he did with K.D. Lang. As many of you know, Rob arranged the
Tony Bennett record "Bennett Sings The Blues" featuring Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, B.B. King, Diana Krall, Ray Charles, and Bonnie Raitt. Rob met with Lee, Tony and his quartet for a week
of rehearsals at Tony's apartment. The record was recorded live in a theatre in New Jersey and produced by T Bone Burnett. It is wonderful and should be out in the fall.
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CARLY SIMON AND DISNEY ASK ROB BACK TO HELP ON SOME TRACKS FOR THE UPCOMING DISNEY FEATURE "PIGLET'S BIG MOVIE" -
After working with Carly
Simon on a few tracks for an upcoming animated Winnie The Pooh holiday special, Carly wanted Rob back to help her with a bunch of extremely inventive Pop tracks for this upcoming full length animated
feature film. Carly is incredibly creative and the sessions held near Carly's home in Martha's Vineyard featured Rob's long time drummer Shawn Pelton on drums and various percussion. It was a
hoot.
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BACK TO PAVAROTTI - ONE MO' TIME-
Rob returned to Modena for the sixth time to musically direct the band, play guitars and orchestrate the
Pavarotti and Friends concert. This year, he worked with Lou Reed, Sting, Grace Jones and had the unbelievable honor of orchestrating and playing with James Brown on "It's a Man's
World". As bassist Zev Katz was heard to say after James Brown performed, "We should all go home now." James Brown is the beginning and the end. It was astonishing.
Sting was also
wonderful and incredibly down to earth, preferring to hang with the band than with anyone else. Lou Reed, who Rob had worked with on his Edgar Allen Poe material, was the most vocal in
his appreciation of Rob's orchestrations. They performed Lou's "Walk On THe Wild Side" and "Perfect Day".
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UPN TELEVISES ONE WORLD JAM FROM RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL, MUSICALLY DIRECTED BY........ yep you guessed it, ROB MATHES ---
Celebrating diversity,
One World Jam, featuring world music artists from everywhere including Juanes from Columbia, Jorge Moreno from Spain, Arabic singing legend Hakim and Olga Tanon from Puerto Rico, not to mention
superstars like Boys II Men, Chicago, Elton John, Nelly, and Ja Rule, was filmed at Radio City Music Hall on July 11th. UPN will be broadcasting the show in the fall.
The best story from
this concert is that Nelly was performing his huge hit "Hot In Heere" and planned to only do it with track. Rob had written a slamming almost Gil Evans like yet simple horn chart and Nelly
agreed to hear it through. He flipped out and asked Rob if he could keep the score to the music. Needless to say, Nelly performed the song with track and.........ROB'S HORN CHART conducted by Rob.
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ROB WORKS AGAIN WITH SADE'S STUART MATTHEWMAN ON FILM SCORE-
Stuart Matthewman, Sade's right hand man. writer of "The Sweetest Taboo"
and producer of, among others, Maxwell and Chocolate Genius, called Rob to orchestrate and play on a new film score for the Polish Brothers. They have won numerous awards for their films and Stuart
scored the movie Twin Falls, Idaho with Rob's help. This film called Northfolk, will be released in the winter by Paramount and stars Nick Nolte, Daryl Hannah, James Woods, Anthony Edwards, and Peter
Coyote. As usual with Stuart and the brothers, the film and the music are both vibey and fascinating and Rob's orchestrations and arrangements will feature a stripped down string section with Harp
and Oboe.
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ROB IS MUSIC DIRECTOR FOR NBC'S CONCERT FOR AMERICA TO BE BROADCAST ON 9/11 -
An all star line up, that is being assembled now, and the
National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin will present a program to commemorate the first anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11/01. Hosted by Tom Brokaw and to be filmed live at The
Kennedy Center in Washington, this will be shown on NBC and Rob is the musical director and arranger.
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LOU REED LOU REED LOU REED LOU REED LOU REED LOU REED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-
By far the most thrilling work of the recent years for Rob was
doing an orchestration for a recording by Lou Reed. The song was from a musical Lou has written on Edgar Allen Poe and Lou wanted a rich and experimental String chart. Rob was completely beside himself because of
the oppurtunity to write an orchestration out of the usual Adult Contemporary box most arrangers get called for.
"Don't get me wrong," Rob said, "writing a string chart for a Celine
Dion ballad can be great and is something Violins and Cellos were meant to do, which is pull at one's heartstrings in the midst of a big ballad BUT............ to get to write some different things for one of
the greatest innovators and pioneers in Rock history was unbelievable. Thanks goes to super producer Ric Wake for hooking Rob up with Lou.
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CONTINUING WORK WITH THE BOSTON POPS-
Becuase of his tour with them, The Boston Pops got familiar with Rob's arranging talents as well
as his original music so he has penned a number of arrangements for there recent season including one for their recording for The Richard Rodgers Centennial on RCA.
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TONY BENNETT AND SUPERSTARS SING THE BLUES TO CELEBRATE TONY'S 75TH BIRTHDAY AND ROB IS THE ARRANGER AND MUSIC DIRECTOR-
Thanks again
to the legendary Phil Ramone, Rob was called in to supervise and arrange a record of duets to be released this fall on SONY. Tony sings with Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, Ray Charles, Diana Krall, Sheryl
Crow, K.D. Lang, Natalie Cole, and B.B. King on a recording of all blues material with the exceptions of a few standards like Billy Joel's "New York State Of Mind". Rob was at all the sessions in
the room with the artists to supervise his own vocal arrangements feauturing these stars and Tony's band, the incomparable Ralph Sharon Quartet. Tony was a complete gem and grew attached to Rob, asking him to be
a part of his next recording.
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BONNIE RAITT RECORDS ROB MATHES SONG-
Rob got a chance to write with one of Nashville's finest writers Allen Chamblin who penned
Bonnie Raitt's classic song, "I Can't Make You Love Me". Rob and Allen wrote a song called "Valley Of Pain" which is the first cut off Bonnie Raitt's new record. Rob worked with
Bonnie on Tony Bennett's record and she said the song was one of her favorites off the record and could possibly be a single. Stay tuned. The record is scheduled for release next winter.
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PAVAROTTI AND FRIENDS - GOODBYE?????????-
Rob once again flew to Modena, Italy to musically direct and arrange the
Pavarotti and Friends concert for producers Phil Ramone and Michele Centonze who has now asked Rob to work with him on a number of projects in Europe. Rob worked with Barry White, Tom Jones, Morcheeba,
Anastacia, and George Benson. Pavarotti declared it to be possibly the final concert. Rob has been a part of five of them and it has been a blast but Pavarotti is probably right in ending it this year.
They ironically raised more money this year for War Children than ever before.
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LOS ANGELES
Rob played Elton John's piano parts and found the keys for the Artists involved at the Musicares tribute
to Elton John during Grammy Week in Los Angeles. A number of artists including Sting, Phil Collins, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Wonder, Melissa Ethridge, and Natalie Cole performed Elton John
songs with Elton's band in a tribule, BUT.... Elton was in the audience. Who would play the famous piano parts???? Yep..... Robbie
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In case you missed the
"Insider" section...
of a recent People magazine, here's a news of a very special Rob Mathes composition. Here's what People had to say.
"Los Angeles Laker Rick Fox told People he was floored during his Sept. 26 wedding ceremony to
Vanessa Williams when her musical director Rob Mathes sang a love poem that Fox had written to Williams three months earlier. 'Rob sang the song and I just lost it,' Fox said. I had no idea it
was coming. It was really special to both of us to begin with, but to hear it in a song! And (Vanessa) had it pressed on CDs, and she's going to put it on her album. It was really overwhelming.'
"
A few years back, Rob wowed a private celebrity crowd with special music for Maestro Andre
Previn's birthday bash.
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Dallas Symphony, Yo Yo Ma
and Vanessa Williams
Rob had the pleasure of working with classical music giant Yo Yo Ma this
fall. He orchestrated a set of Vanessa Williams' music for a gala evening with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, which marked its 100th anniversary on September 9.
Rob explains: "One of the neat things about this is that the other artist that evening
is YoYo Ma and I got to provide two showcases for the two of them together. Classical and modern orchestral music is a passion of mine and always has been. I orchestrated a great old spiritual and a
Harold Arlen song for alto and cello obligato fully featuring his astounding command of that instrument lyrically and technically."
Yo Yo was delighted with the collaboration and signed one of the scores with a dedication to Rob
and the words "Let's do it again."
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A "Rosie" Christmas
Look for a charming version of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" Rob arranged for Rosie O'Donnell and
Elmo. Rob first encountered this dynamic singing duo on Vanessa Williams ABC Christmas special. In addition to working with Rosie and Vanessa, Rob teamed up with Babyface, Shania Twain, and
Luther Vandross.
Rob has made several appearances with Vanessa on Rosie's popular daytime TV show. This summer, Rob showed up on the Rosie show with Natalie Cole to play some tunes from their
collaboration on "Snowfall On The Sahara."
A Michael Crawford Christmas
The extraordinary musical theater vocalist Michael Crawford (the original "Phantom") was so pleased
with work Rob did on his recording "Millenium Chorus" that he asked Rob (also known as Mr. Christmas in the music industry) to collaborate on his own upcoming holiday album.
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NATALIE COLE'S
"Snowfall On The Sahara"
FEATURES 6 ROB MATHES ARRANGEMENTS
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Check out "Snowfall on the Sahara."
Rob Mathes is all over Natalie Cole's new record "Snowfall on the Sahara." As usual, Rob wears
several hats, arranging, playing, you name it. Here's a rundown of key cuts:
- Bob Dylan added a new verse just for Natalie on his amazing "Gotta Serve Somebody."
- That great old soul classic, "Stay With Me," gets full Mathes treatment with a new rhythm arrangement, new strings sound and a big, brash, brass horns sound.
- The great Taj Mahal classic, "Corinna."
- The unbelievably beautiful Leon Russell classic,"A Song for You."
- The Roberta Flack classic, "Reverend Lee."
- "Say You Love Me", featuring a great Mathes keyboard solo.
"Thanks to Phil Ramone who produced this project," says Rob.
(Above RealAudio link courtesy Elektra )
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Adding some "Spice"
to the Resume…
Rob headed into the studio to do a rhythm and horn arrangement for The Spice Girls as part of the upcoming Elton
John/Disney Broadway project "Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida." The track is the third Rob has arranged for the project, which is being produced by Phil Ramone.
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ROB RECORDS AGAIN WITH UP AND COMING PRODUCER AND GRAMMY WINNER TOMMY SIMS ON A PROJECT BY THE WINANS LEAD SINGER MARVIN WINANS-
Tommy flew Rob down to Nashville to do a bunch of Horn and String charts for a magnificent record by Marvin Winans who is cited by R. Kelly and Brian McKnight as one of the most important and
influential singers in Gospel and RnB history.
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DISNEY AND CARLY SIMON-
Rob has begun a creative relationship with Pop Legend Carly Simon. She initially called him to
musically direct and arrange a concert for her in mid summer but as she is still somewhat reclusive regarding live concert events, this was cancelled. She then subsequently asked Rob to work with her on
an upcoming project beginning in the fall for Disney.
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NASHVILLE
Rob has had another banner year as an arranger down in Nashville on Gospel and Country records.
****He
has been tapped by Faith Hill's producer Byron Gallimore, one of Nashville's best to do string arrangements for Tim McGraw's new record to be released in late 2000.
****Thanks to Phil Ramone, Rob did some string arrangements for the new Alecia Elliot record executive produced by famed Nashville Producer Tony Brown.
****Paul Worley, Grammy winning
producer of The Dixie Chicks and Martina McBride also started using Rob as an arranger on his latest project for Capitol Records, a wonderful new artist named Cyndi Thompson.
****Rob
did string arrangements for Wynonna Judd this year as well as an arrangement for an outdoor concert by Kathy Mattea and The Nashville Symphony
****Rob also worked a number of times
this year with producer Tommy Sims- on his Universal Records debut, on a Beth Nielsen Chapman record, and on a blazing gospel record by Darwin Hobbs featuring Michael McDonald of Doobie
Brothers fame
****Rob also continued working for Contemporary Christian producers Phil Naish and Mark Hammond on the new Sandi Patti and Steve Green records as well as Christian
music's more poetic newcomer Nichole Nordeman.
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Pavarotti And Friends 1999
Rob participated in this amazing benefit concert in Luciano Pavarotti's hometown of Modena,
Italy, for the third year in a row, this year taking on more responsibilities than ever.
Rob led the house band which included legendary Pino Palladino on bass, long-time
Christmas concert favorite Shawn Pelton on drums, Robbie Kondor on keyboards and myself on acoustic and electric guitar.
We played for Ricky Martin, Mariah Carey, B.B. King (without a shadow of a doubt the
highlight), Joe Cocker ("amazing"), Gloria Estefan, Zucchero, Boyzone and Lionel Richie among others.
And of course, the Maestro tapped Rob to concoct many of the featured duets, including:
"You Are So Beautiful" (Joe Cocker and Pavarotti)
"The Magic Of Love" (Lionel Richie's brand new original duet, written for Pavarotti and he)
"We Are The World" (the finale which was to include the song's two writers – Lionel Richie
and Michael Jackson – but Jackson opted out due, he said, to his son's illness)
"Hero" (For Mariah Carey and Pavarotti)
"The Thrill Is Gone" (For B.B. King and Pavarotti)
"You Can Leave Your Hat On" (Joe Cocker)
"My All" (Mariah Carey)
"The most fun I had was being Luciano's stand in for some of the rehearsals," says Rob.
"B.B. King missed his flight so Maestro Pavarotti asked me to sing the duet with him for practice and play solo electric guitar like the incomparable B.B. would when he eventually arrived. I got thumbs
up from the legend. What a trip."
More work with one the reigning divas:
Thanks to Ric Wake, a producer Rob is teamed with more and more, he worked on a new Celine Dion
ballad called "I Know What Love Is," which is slated to be on her "Greatest Hits" collection due out by next year.
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WHO IS THAT MATHES MAN?
"Just when you think you've at lease heard of popular music's up-and-comers, you'll surely be proven wrong. Case in point:
Rob Mathes. Doesn't ring any bells? Well, just get a load of the people who think he's one smashing arranger/songwriter: Celine Dion, Luciano Pavarotti, Elton John and
Boyz II Men. Mathes' national performance debut began airing on PBS the week of Nov. 28, titled "Christmas is Coming," a concert special featuring his arrangements of classic carols and original
songs of the season. Performances included Vanessa Williams, David Sanborn, Michael McDonald and Ossie Davis. In addition, Mathes directed Williams' first-ever international tour,
arranged and conducted for Dion's holiday special, These Are Special Times, and did the same for the upcoming Boyz II Men "The Prince of Egypt" television special. His Christmas tunes have
been recorded by Kathy Mattea, Steve Green and B.J. Thomas, and he even had a praise and worship album a few years back. But if Mathes' song "William the Angel" is any indication of
his musicianship, we all better remember his name."
-Melissa Riddle
CCM Magazine
February 1999
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ELTON JOHN AND TIM RICE'S "AIDA"...
ON SALE NOW!
Elton
John and Tim Rice's Aida, a star-studded album which features five Rob Mathes arrangements, has hit store shelves!
The record serves as a soundtrack for the still-in-development Disney/Elton
John/Tim Rice musical which is said to be headed for Broadway after out-of- town tryouts in Atlanta and Chicago.
Among Rob's arranging crecdits on the record are Elton and Lulu's "The Messenger,"
"A Step Too Far," featuring Elton, Heather Hedley and Sherrie Scott, "Not Me" featuring Boyz II Men; The Spice Girls "My Strongest Suit" and "Elaborate Lives" featuring Heather Hedley.
The record,
helmed by Executive Producer Phil Ramone, also features tracks by Sting, Shania Twain, Lenny Kravitz, Dru Hill, Kelly Price, Janet Jackson and of course the current smash hit Elton John/LeAnn Rimes song
"Written in the Stars."
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS CONTACT:
John Kelly/Geoffrey F.X. O'Connell 203/359-8777
ARRANGER/COMPOSER ROB MATHES FEATURED ON CELINE DION'S "THESE ARE SPECIAL TIMES"
Mathes Composes , Conducts String Arrangements
For Celine/R. Kelly Duet "I'm Your Angel"
And "
Don't Save it All For Christmas Day"
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National Audiences Primed for Mathes' Own National Public Television Special "Christmas is Coming: Rob Mathes and Very
Special Friends" With Guest Stars Vanessa Williams, Michael McDonald,
David Sanborn and Actor Ossie Davis
Acclaimed arranger/composer and performer Rob Mathes is making quite a record industry splash this holiday season.
First, Mathes is prominently featured as an arranger and conductor on Celine Dion's just-released holiday blockbuster-to-be, "
These Are Special Times." Mathes' string arrangements can be heard on the record's first single, the soaring and inspirational "I'm Your Angel," a duet between Celine and reigning R&B
superstar and R. Kelly.
Mathes' orchestrations are also highlighted on "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day," a Peter Zizzo/Ric Wake/Celine Dion-penned ballad which
also is destined to find a home on radio playlists.
Another project bearing Mathes' musical stamp this season is "Pavarotti and Friends: For the Children of Liberia." This London Records
release and nationally televised PBS special sees Mathes arranging for and performing onstage with a host of international superstars including the world's most famous tenor himself. Among the highlights are a
Mathes Rob Mathes arrangement of the Bernstein/Sondheim "West Side Story" classic "Tonight." The song, sung by Natalie Cole
and Pavarotti, is set in a majestic, sweeping new arrangement that breathes new life into one of the greatest tunes in the history of the Broadway stage. Mathes also adds string arrangements to the
Jon Bon Jovi/Pavarotti duet of "Let It Rain; Trisha Yearwood's Pavarotti duet on "Adeste Fideles" and the Vanessa Williams/Pavarotti take on the classic aria "Non ti scordar di me
." In addition, Mathes performs on guitar throughout the concert, performing with artists including The Spice Girls, Celine Dion and Stevie Wonder and as a featured soloist on "Betcha Never
," the Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds-composed Vanessa Williams tune.
Mathes has also recently been in the studio arranging a track for Elton John from his upcoming CD to accompany the Disney Broadway musical "Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida." In
addition, Mathes recently arranged and conducted strings for Boyz II Men on the upcoming NBC television special surrounding the Dreamworks animated film "The Prince of Egypt." He is currently in
discussions with legendary impresario Tibor Rudas to arrange and conduct on the next "Three Sopranos" project.
Audiences across the country will get their first taste of Mathes' extraordinary talents this holiday season thanks in his national performance debut "
Christmas is Coming: Rob Mathes and Very Special Friends." This public television special, produced by Michael Macari, Jr. and EagleVision, Inc., features Mathes originals and reworkings of holiday
classics, teams the rising star with special guests Vanessa Williams, Michael McDonald, David Sanborn and actor Ossie Davis. The show will be seen on public television stations
nationwide this holiday season. It is also available nationally in a EagleVision Records/Mercury Records CD release hitting stores November 10. The Polygram home video will be available in stores December
8.
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