A gifted multi-instrumentalist equally at home on saxophone and numerous other instruments, Matt Catingub has yet to gain the full measure of acclaim his arranging skills across many genres warrant. Born to vocalist Mavis Rivers, he benefited from thorough musical preparation that began with piano lessons at age seven, continued with clarinet at eleven, moved into formal study of composition and arranging by sixteen, and culminated in a switch to alto saxophone at seventeen. While still that age he performed on alto with the California All-Star High School Jazz Band at the Monterey Jazz Festival, where the ensemble also premiered a suite he had written. His first encounter with Louie Bellson occurred at seventeen, initiating a collaboration that lasted for years; in 1980 he appeared alongside Kenny Burrell and simultaneously launched his own big band. Catingub directed the ensemble that supported his mother and joined the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band for nationwide tours. He subsequently helmed four big-band releases on Sea Breeze—among them Hi-Tech Big Band, half of which features his synthesizer programming that emulates an entire orchestra—a further date for Reference, and a Concord tribute to George Gershwin. Additional credits include freelance arrangements frequently supplied to middle-of-the-road pop vocalists such as Jack Jones and Toni Tennille. His playful wit, paired with an unwavering dedication to robust swing, surfaces in pieces such as “I’m Getting Cement All Over Ewe,” “Blues and the Abscessed Tooth,” and “Sciatica Stomp.”
