Beethoven, says bass player Reed Mathis, “was a songwriter, an improvisor, a sound shaman, a self-taught working-class pronouncer of universal anguish, awe, resilience and triumph. The flesh-and-blood man stood artistically closer to the likes of John Coltrane, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix than to any of his present-day concert hall re-enactors.”
In line with that belief, Mathis has sought to pay tribute to his hero by rearranging the master’s 3rd and 6th symphonies and recording each newly imagined movement with trio combinations of other renowned jazz and pop musicians to produce a double disc set, titled “Beathoven” and billed as the world’s first “classical dance music album.”
On tour for the release of the CD this month, Reed Mathis and Electric Beethoven will be at the Iron Horse in Northampton Monday for an 8:30 p.m. show. $15 advance; $20 at the door. iheg.com ”