Accomplished suburban jazz musician, businessman dies at 80
Services will be held Saturday for Dick Mattick, an accomplished suburban jazz pianist who specialized in the music of the 1920s through the 1950s.
Mattick, a Barrington resident and successful business owner, died Saturday, Jan. 27. He was 80.
He was the leader of the popular Dick Mattick Swingtet and a fixture at Hackney's Restaurant in Glenview in the 1990s and early 2000s.
"We would have a packed house," restaurant manager Mary Corby said Sunday as she reminisced about the monthly Friday night gigs in the Hackney's Shillelagh Room.
Guests making reservations would invariably want to sit close to the band, she said.
"They really loved Dick and his band," Corby added. "He was so sweet and would always walk around and talk with the customers."
Trumpeter Bob Leopold, who played with Mattick at Hackney's, recalled his marathon performances at the restaurant on St. Patrick's Day.
"This was a grueling job," he said. "He would play for hours. He would play as long as there were people there. (But) he loved it. He loved his music."
Trombonist Tom Bartlett called Mattick "an excellent player, very devoted to old-time good music and ragtime."
Bartlett expects to be among the musicians who will perform during Mattick's funeral, scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, at Presbyterian Church of Barrington, 6 Brinker Road, Barrington Hills.
Mattick's son, Rick Mattick, said his father could play various styles of jazz, and at private gatherings performed Gershwin and show tunes.
"He played all this stuff by ear," Rick Mattick said. "He could just sit down without music and recall song after song and just play."
His talents as a leader extended to his nonmusical life. He was president and co-owner of Mattick Business Forms, a family-run company that was started in Chicago in 1921. He also owned Mattick Antiques in Barrington.
Born in Chicago, he attended Taft High School then graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he earned the nickname "Fingers" and formed a Dixieland band with other students. He later he served in the U.S. Navy as a communications officer aboard the Aircraft Carrier the USS Oriskany. While in the Navy, he performed in San Francisco at the Monkey Club.
In addition to playing at Hackney's, he also appeared at the Milk Pail in East Dundee and The Village Tavern in Long Grove. More recently, his granddaughter created the YouTube channel RagTimeRich, to post videos of him performing.
Mattick suffered a series of lung infections in the past few months.
"He was really starting to get his chops back on the piano and started to enjoy playing for local nursing homes here and doing singalongs for them," Rick Mattick said.
Visitation will take place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9, at Glueckert Funeral Home, 1520 N. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Potomac River Jazz Club.