Matty Matlock

Who was Matty Matlock?

Julian Clifton "Matty" Matlock was an American Dixieland jazz clarinettist, saxophonist and arranger born in Paducah, Kentucky. From 1929 to 1934 Matlock replaced Benny Goodman in the Ben Pollack band doing arrangements and performing on clarinet.

The following info on Matty is from the liner notes of his 1958 album The Dixieland Story:

Matty Matlock was born in Paducah, Kentucky. Not unlike many famous musicians whose families had no musical tradition, Matty has a charming vignette from his very early years which, he believes, deeply influenced and pressed him inevitably toward a career in music. The scene took place when Matty was about to turn six. There is no evidence to the contrary, so it must be reported that the child Matty Matlock saw and heard an old Negro gentleman seated on a stoop playing a wistful melody on a tin flute. From that moment, Matty soberly claims, the twig was bent.

Several years later, Matty recalls an incident which appears to have a more logical, if not so quaint, bearing on his musical career. Watching a National Guard outfit drilling Matty noticed soldiers with rifles had to march briskly up and down across the streaming tarmac while, in the shade, the musicians sat leisurely blowing "Too Much Mustard".