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Julian Clifton Matlock was born on April 27, 1907 in  Paducah, Kentucky and raised in Nashville from the age of ten. He began playing clarinet when he was 12.

From 1929 to 1934, Matlock replaced Benny Goodman in the Ben Pollack band doing arrangements and performing on clarinet. He was one of the main arrangers for Bob Crosby’s band and joined Crosby’s group in 1935 as clarinettist, playing with both the main Crosby band and the smaller Bobcats group. However, he was often seconded to write full-time for the orchestra and the Bobcats. He stayed with Crosby until the band broke up in 1942.

After the dissolution of Crosby’s group, Matty worked in Los Angeles, California playing for recordings made by a variety of Dixieland groups. In 1955, he appeared in the film Pete Kelly’s Blues, playing clarinet for a band that is seen in a scene in a Kansas City speakeasy in 1927. He would go on to play with Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Heindorf, Ben Pollack and Beverly Jenkins.

Dixieland clarinettist, saxophonist and arranger Matty Matlock, who recorded three albums as a leader, passed away on June 14, 1978 in Los Angeles, California.

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