Bob Matthews began his musical life in Perth’s brass band movement and the Y.A.L. band under the guidance of maestro Sammy Sharp.
After playing various brass instruments, he eventually settled on the trombone and became a founding member of the award-winning traditional jazz band The Five Saints, mentored by Jack Harrison and featuring his son Jay Harrison on clarinet.
A music scholarship took Bob to Perth Modern School, followed by a two-year scholarship with the ABC’s National Training Orchestra in Sydney. Subsequent orchestral engagements included periods with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and the Elizabethan Trust Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House.
A Churchill Fellowship enabled Bob to undertake further trombone studies at Indiana University in the United States. He subsequently returned to Perth, where he spent ten years as Principal Trombone with the WA Arts Orchestra, alongside a developing career in music education. It was also in the Arts Orchestra that he met his wife, Diane Riddell, then the orchestra’s Principal Flute.
Following his years with the Arts Orchestra, Bob gradually reduced his freelance performing commitments and moved into full-time music education, spending the remainder of his working career teaching music in Perth schools.