Ben Mathews was born in Mission Hills, CA on June 2, 1980. He spent most of his life in Thousand Oaks, CA, a rapidly expanding suburb of Los Angeles County settled in the beautiful Conejo Valley. There he spent a great deal of time playing sports with a myriad of young boys his age who lived in the neighborhood. Baseball became his favorite pastime, and he enjoyed Little League games and an occasional Dodgers game with his dad, uncles, and cousins.
In elementary school he played the alto saxophone and performed several times with the school band. After leaving the saxophone, he picked up his sister's guitar at the age of 13 and began to tinker with the different sounds he could get out of it. He learned a few chords by ear, and with the help of a friend he began to learn the songs he heard on the radio.
In high school he played the bass guitar in a punk rock band and continued to learn about pop and rock music. During this time, he also became interested in traditional forms of jazz.
At Ricks College, which later would become Brigham Young University-Idaho, he devoted himself to the study of classical guitar and began to land spots in various performing and touring groups. Eventually these experiences led him to play in Sound Alliance, the school's top jazz ensemble. While with this group, he's had the privilege of sharing the stage with internationally acclaimed jazz musicians such as Ed Calle, Cyrus Chestnut, The Marvin Stamm Quartet, and most recently, Bob Mintzer. During his college years he served as a fulltime missionary in Chile for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and there developed a love for Latin and Andean music.
He began to perform with Jon Peter while in college. He is currently working fulltime as a guitar player in Jon’s band and as part of the band’s creative force. Ben plays all types of guitars, as well as keyboards, drums, and the charango, a South American guitarlike instrument.
Fan mail to Ben can be sent to benmathews@jplewismusic.com.
Thanks for this great bio on him, Pete. He sounds perfect for Jon's band.
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"What I really want more than anything else is to make good music. Music that's lasting, that will be classic, and it will be a lot of fun. . . along the way." - Jon Peter Lewis
