Scottish double bassist Ron Mathewson who has died aged 76 played piano from early childhood and double bass from when he was 15. Additionally and futhermore according to John Chilton's Who's Who of British Jazz: 2nd Edition (Bayou, 2004) Mathewson played in local dance bands and left his native Shetland Isles aged 17 to work in Germany for five months with trombonist Ken Ramage's Dixielanders. He joined Clyde Valley Stompers in late-1962, and after a brief spell in London moved back to Scotland and then returned to London to join Alex Welsh's Band in the spring of 1964. He began a long musical association with Tubby Hayes in 1966 and worked in Ray Russell's Quartet in 1968 and in Ronnie Scott's Octet the same year and other Scott groups over the next few years.

In many line-ups in the 1970s Chilton's book notes that Mathewson was in Mick Pyne's Trio, Gordon Beck's Gyroscope, Pat Smythe's Trio, Michael Garrick's Sextet, Tony Kinsey's Quintet, Ian Hamer's Sextet, Stan Sulzmann's Quartet and Ronnie Ross's Sextet among others.

In the mid-1980s the bassist was in Charlie Watts' Big Band and worked on and off with Ronnie Scott until 1992 and later remained active as a player and teacher during the early-2000s.

Mathewson as you can immediately ascertain from all of the above was a significant presence at the heart of the British jazz scene for decades in many of the top modernist bop and beyond groups of the late-1960s and 1970s. He made history with Tubby Hayes on such classic records as Mexican Green and was greatly revered as a player by his peers including Dave Holland who, since news of Mathewson's death became known, has paid tribute to his fellow bassist on social media writing: ''When I was a young bass player his playing was an inspiration to me and an example of what was possible.''

Photo: Peter Symes