Onzy Durrett Matthews, Jr. (January 15, 1930 – November 13, 1997) was an American jazz pianist, singer, arranger, composer, and television and movie actor.

The group was a conglomerate of all-star Los Angeles jazz/studio artists who immediately took a liking to playing Matthews' inventive, blues-based orchestrations; the first players coming through his band included Gordon, Amy, Sonny Criss, Jack Sheldon, Carmell Jones, and Red Mitchell.

[3] Curtis Amy included two of Matthews' original tunes on his Pacific Jazz albums Meetin' Here and Way Down in 1961 and 1962 respectively.

Dexter Gordon recorded Matthews' original tune "Very Saxily Yours" for his Gettin' Around album on Blue Note, but the track was not released until 25 years later on the CD re-issue.

Much like other black jazz artists of that time, it was particularly difficult for Matthews to break prejudice and color barriers.

[5] Players for Matthews' big bands and recordings in Los Angeles included Bud Brisbois, Curtis Amy, Bobby Bryant, Dick Hyde, Teddy Edwards, Earl Palmer, Jay Migliori, Conte Candoli, Richard 'Groove' Holmes, Horace Tapscott, Gabe Baltazar, Joe Maini, Ollie Mitchell, Herb Ellis, Carmell Jones, Sonny Criss, and Jack Nimitz.

These included both black and white studio musicians, which continued to present a problem until Matthews worked with the much younger producer Nick Venet after he signed to Capitol.

[5] Singers that Matthews featured and wrote for, on their regular live gigs, included Ruth Price, Jimmy Witherspoon, Big Miller, and June Eckstine.

[5] Lou Rawls was signed to Capitol Records in early 1961 and had a breakthrough set of hits with Les McCann and the album Stormy Monday.

Both men were back in the studio at Capitol in July and August 1963 to record more tracks, which made up Rawls' album Tobacco Road.

Matthews showed his adeptness at a wide range of writing; the tracks are somewhat like Quincy Jones' 1962 album Big Band Bossa Nova released by Mercury Records.

Matthews wrote more charts and supplied the same band on Holmes' November 1966 release A Bowl of Soul, also with Warner Bros. Records.

[9] Lefty Louie/Blues Non-Stop, a quartet backed by voices, was also recorded during these sessions and was released as a single on the Capitol label.

[1][11] The Phillips release has frequently been miscredited as having been recorded in 1976, due to its repackaging as a compilation; again Matthews' big band backs the primary artist.

Producer Michael Cuscuna found three tracks Matthews recorded during this era in July and October 1964, where he overdubbed his singing while fronting his big band.

In March and June 1965, two arrangements by Matthews were recorded for Charles' album Country & Western meets Rhythm & Blues.

Matthews arrangement of Driftin' Blues on Cryin' Time is noted as a standout that features a guitar solo by Ray Crawford.

[1] More writing assignments during this time include arranging for television shows such as the June 29, 1965 CBS special, It's What's Happening, Baby!

At that time, he moved around between New York, Dallas and Seattle, and at one point worked for Sheraton Resorts in the Virgin Islands, Aruba, and Curaçao as solo pianist and singer.

Working from there as a composer, arranger, and actor, he appeared in the movie Dingo (1991) playing the trumpeter Caesar alongside Miles Davis.

[17] Matthews is enigmatic and a hard person to pinpoint; in many ways he did not get nearly the credit he deserved in comparison with big band leaders or musical directors such as Oliver Nelson, Gerald Wilson, or Harold Wheeler.