Mathis Re-released

A Conversation With
y
n
n
h
Jo Mathis
By Melanie Hulick
MATHIS: Good morning, Melanie! How are you?
HULICK: Great. It’s a beautiful sunny day here with bright
blue skies.
MATHIS: It’s coming into fall there isn’t it?
HULICK: Yes, there is that certain chill in the night air.
MATHIS: That’s wonderful! I’m coming to Buffalo
soon.
HULICK: Yes, Sept. 26 you’ll be here with the BPO for
another wonderful show.
MATHIS: Yes! I’m so looking forward to it, as I always
do.
HULICK: You have something exciting to talk about—I
think it’s very exciting—the release of some of your older
albums into two CD disc sets.
MATHIS: Yes! You know you spend your whole life doing
this, recording, and you get one little run at it when it’s first
released. It’s kind of nice to have it re-issued as something
that is viable. I know that when I get into my music mood
and something triggers me…maybe I want to hear Leontyne
Price or Pavarotti or some marvelous singer…it’s nice to
have re-packages because you always get a little surprise
along the way. Maybe songs that some of them haven’t
released that are lesser known than others but nonetheless
still worthwhile.
HULICK: I think it’s important, especially these days when audiences and
fans of entertainers, such as you, are
getting younger and they are appreciating the really good music of way back
when and now they are able to listen to
that, so in a way, these re-releases are
getting a whole new audience.
MATHIS: They make an effort to include me when they
release any kind of music, and usually I have no reservations about what they release. Once in a while I’ll call them
and say, “Why do you want to release that song? (laughs). I
don’t really like it (laughs).” But that’s not a good enough
excuse…they have their reasons for releasing some of this
music and usually they tell me why and I say, “Well…OK
(laughs). If you really want to (laughs), but put an asterisk
by it!” (laughs)
HULICK: (laughs) Oh my gosh! (laughs) Seriously now.
Of the albums that were chosen for this special release do
you have a sentimental favorite?
MATHIS: The one that I really held a good feeling about,
and it’s always because of my admiration for these marvelous musicians who’ve helped me along the way, I would
have to say is “I’ll Buy You A Star,” which was done by
Nelson Riddle. When I came along and started singing he
was at the top of the charts with orchestrations he had done
for Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. So I was a big fan of
his and to me he’s the top of the class when it comes to orchestrators and he was very fortunate to have his own style.
That’s why I like the inclusion of “I’ll Buy You a Star.”
HULICK: Will there be any future releases? You’ve recorded so many albums and there’s still quite a few from
years back that are left.
MATHIS: I think the company likes to put things out and
see what kind of reaction it gets, and that sort of will
have a lot to do as to whether they’ll
release others.
HULICK: What’s coming up for you
in 2010?
MATHIS: Well I’m doing a new CD.
In fact I’m in the process of compiling
the music for it. The music is…I guess
you would call it early American music.
Nowadays they call it country western. I
kind of think of it as American classical
music. The lyrics are meaningful and
I get a chance to sing good melodies. I
think I’ll even go to Nashville to record
in a studio, which is really comfortable for
the new producer.
MATHIS: Yes, it’s nice for the kids
growing up to know what went before. They know what’s here now,
and there’s no way of knowing what
will come afterwards of course, but
what goes before, I think, is very
viable, very interesting and it’s nice
to be included in that.
HULICK: Are you thinking a mid-2010
release?
HULICK: Did you get to be part
of the process of deciding which
albums were going to be chosen, or
was that decided by the company
itself?
MATHIS: I’ll finish it by the end of October and they may want to release it at
Christmas time.
Mathis Re-released
By Melanie Hulick
How lucky are we to live in an age when early recordings of one of the greatest talents in the history of
music can be converted to CD form to be re-released
so that all can enjoy? Until now there were only a
select group of people who were able to claim they
had earlier recordings—albums—of the great Johnny
Mathis. These people know they have something
special, and now anyone can “lay claim” to 10 of
Mathis’ 1960s works with the re-released albums in
five two-CD sets.
Mathis and I caught up with each other recently
by phone from his home in Hollywood, to talk about
this exciting news, his next project, his take on his
legacy and his upcoming appearance with the Buffao
Philharmonic Orchestra at Kleinhan’s Music Hall on
Sept. 26.
At the time of our conversation California was
experiencing the terrible wild fires. “We have them
every year and then after the fires come the mud
slides, because there’s no foliage on the hills to hold
the earth,” Mathis said. “It’s just something we go
through all the time and it makes us feel like we’re
alive I guess.”
We touched on the tragedy of the death of Michael
Jackson, whom Mathis didn’t know, but did meet
once on an airplane on their way to the Caribbean
where each were performing when Michael was
about eight. “He came up and knelt down next to
my seat and told me, ‘Mr. Mathis, I want to tell
you I’m a big fan and my favorite song you sing
is called ‘Foolish’,’” remembered Mathis. “I was
a huge, huge fan of Michael’s. He was an actual
genius in his movements, his music… an extraordinary person as far as I’m concerned.”
As Johnny and I were talking, I found myself
thinking how our conversations have evolved
over the past couple of years. They went from
me being terrified of interviewing a musical
icon and legend to conversations so comfortable and laid back that it made me realize
that even with the tragedies of wild fires and
the death of the King of Pop, the world is,
to paraphrase a Mathis song, “Wonderful,
Wonderful.”
For ticket information, please visit
www.bpo.org or call 883-3560
For a list of and how to order the five rereleased Mathis albums, visit www.johnnymathis.com
HULICK: You know, Johnny, this is my fifth time interviewing you. I never in my wildest dreams would have ever
imagined I would get the chance to interview you once, let
alone five times. I don’t believe I have ever asked you this
question: What do you want your legacy to be?
MATHIS: Well, you know, when you start thinking about
yourself and what you mean to people you really have no
idea. I have no idea what people think of me. The only
thing I know is that whatever I’ve done over the years, most
people, 99.9 percent of people, know me only by what my
music is. But the people who are acquaintances and the
people who I meet and play golf with and what have you
probably could give you a little bit better of an idea of how
I’ll be remembered (laughs). You’re never quite sure what
aspect of your life people remember. For instance, when
my name is mentioned musically most people say, “Ah-ha!
‘Chances Are’!” And yes it was and has been a very big part
of my career, but when you are doing all this music it’s only
one aspect and one little part of your life. I, however, think
of lots of other things. So you are never sure. But, it’ll be
nice to be remembered at all (laughs)….Nowadays most
people have a very short attention span when it comes to
remembering, because there’s so much information being
fed to you all the time.
HULICK: Well I hope through the articles I have done on
you that people are seeing a bit more of you as a person,
not just you as the entertainer. I hope that I am relaying
that to people.
MATHIS: Well I enjoy our talks very much and you’ve
done a wonderful job. I can’t thank you enough for your
kindness over the years and your writing, and the way in
which you present our talks. It’s wonderful.
Melanie Hulick of Springville has interviewed more than
70 stars since her first, with Enrique Iglesias, in February
2004. The stars often seek Hulick out when they come to
the Buffalo area for performances. Her interviews are now
exclusively featured in The Orchard Park Press.
Mathis,Convr 9-18 cmyk (work;OPpress-9-18-09; entertainment fldr) S.O.
HULICK: Good morning, Johnny!