PRESENTS

Welcome to the Grapevine News. This section of the Mathis Chronicles contains my views about anything I find or am sent about Johnny Mathis on the 'net and elsewhere, that isn't being discussed by any "official" sites. Occasionally, I report on things not directly related to Mathis but have a connection, may even make up a question to ask myself and try to answer. Readers are welcome to share their news here also. So enjoy and thanks for coming.

VOL. 1 NO. 6

BREAKING NEWS: Helen Noga, wife of John managed Johnny Mathis for the first part of his career, and without whom it must be admitted that there would be no persona of Johnny Mathis at all, has died at the age of 88. An article by the Associated Press chronicles her life and times.

SNOOPY'S DAD: Finally, I've finished that autobiography of Quincy Jones, called Q, and I can't say enough about it. This book is written in a very interesting format. Number one, it's part biography and part autobiography. It's peppered by the anecdotes of family and friends who have known Mr. Jones over the years, some of whom are no longer even alive, which tells me this book was many, many years in the making. Secondly, this book is as honest an autobiography as I've yet to read. There are some who will write an auto-memoir in order to keep someone else from telling their story in a perhaps not-so-positive light, hoping to preserve some pre-manufactured image. There's none of that bull in Q's book, I'll tell you what. He lays his imperfections out there for everyone to see. It must have been terribly hard to do, and I admire him so much for that. The beauty of it is, here's a guy who can talk about his arranging skills, and how hard he worked to learn his craft, how he made a star out of Leslie Gore, without it coming off as boasting. (Who was it that said, it's only boasting if you can't do it...) Equally impressive is the fact that he used no ghost writer, or co-writer, to put this book together. Again, most autobiographies will show a second name, in smaller print, which is the person who ACTUALLY wrote the book. Ghost writers will usually clean up some grammatical errors and improve the flow of a piece so that it reads well. Q did this thing apparently all by his lonesome! I'm very impressed by that.

In the book, Q gives his props to a mutual friend of his and Johnny Mathis. Henry Mancini, whom Q says worked on over 93 movie scores at Universal Pictures, went to bat for him when some short-sighted executives doubted his abilities merely because of the color of his skin. Mancini would also prove a valuable mentor, coaching Q as he wrote scores for television. Mancini was a friend to Quincy Jones since well before the Universal job, and Q called him "a friend till the day he died."

Q also recounts the time in 1955 when George Avakian at Columbia Records asked him to arrange for whom he called "a gifted seventeen-year-old unknown jazz singer and track star from San Francisco." Q accepted the job, too, but then another big opportunity arose -- to follow his idol Dizzy Gillespie to Europe and be musical director and arranger for his band. Decisions, decisions. Well, Q followed his heart and his idol overseas, while Gil Evans, John Lewis, and Johnny Carisi were reassigned to the album project for the young singer. (I thought it amusing that it took three to replace Q.)

But talk about the fickle finger of fate. Speculation is a waste of time, but I've got to wonder what would have happened with a Q-inspired first album for the young Johnny Mathis. But, Mathis and Jones would cross paths again -- at Mercury Records.

In an Australian music program I have dated 1981, Mathis actually laments his years at Mercury, saying, "When I got to Mercury I was lost. Quincy Jones was the only one who knew what was going on..." After the European gig/fiasco was over Q became Vice President of A&R at Mercury, and he was in charge of, as he put it, "the sweet divas: Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Shirley Horn, Nana Mouskouri, Damita Jo, Nina Simone." But while there, Q developed a reputation for putting out quality records that didn't sell. (I would argue that's perhaps true; despite Mathis' discontent I think Mathis' Mercury albums are the best of that period.)

As I read the book I thought about all the connections and interconnections not just with Mancini and Sarah Vaughan and Nana and George Avakian or even Q's agent Peter Faith (son of Percy), but also Patti Austin, whose godmother, Dinah Washington, had an affair with Q; Phil Ramone, who knew Q from the early days when he arranged for Ray Charles and how these friendships and acquaintanceships ultimately led to opportunities for Johnny Mathis. It's just fascinating to consider it!

And that's the best way to describe this book, really: fascinating. Emotionally draining at times, Q tells a good story and is quite the name-dropper. I loved reading about Q's trials and the tribulations...nobody could make up the kind of life Quincy Jones has had! There's the spooky description of death told by someone who actually did so...and revived. There's the drama of a man who can't seem to find acceptance from a stepmother nor escape from his real mother. There's the pain of losing two best friends: a father and a kid brother. Then there's the matter of a man who's had so many, um, "relationships"! (As one of his daughters puts it, seven kids by five different women!) It's also a telling look at the music business, the motion-picture business, and life as a musician from the inside out, and interestingly, not just from Q's perspective. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to see how an autobiography SHOULD be put together.

DOVE AWARDS: Johnny Mathis up for a Dove Award? Not exactly. However, Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas Extraordinaire, featuring Johnny Mathis on the song O Tannenbaum, and which far and away outsold any other holiday recording this past season, is nominated for a Dove Award in the Instrumental Album of the Year category --- putting yet another potential trophy in the lap of American Gramophone creator Chip Davis.

The 33rd Dove Awards will be presented Thursday, April 25th, 2002.

TOUR BUS: Next stop, Bernallillo, near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Western Pennsylvania residents, rejoice! I see two new dates for Pittsburgh and also one for the east side in Easton, PA (near Allentown). Check out See Mathis Live for details.