The inspiration for Matthews' body of work honoring musicians was Louis Hottot (1834-1905), a French artist whose sculptures he had long admired. As a collector, he fell in love with and eventually acquired one of Hottot's terra cotta sculptures, a banjo player, which had been cast by Goldscheider in the late 1800's. With fevered inspiration, he produced Banjo Man as a tribute to this fine artist. Matthews often imagined what other pieces Hottot might have done with the same theme, and created his most well known pieces with those thoughts in mind, leading to the original suite of Banjo Man, Fiddler, Saxophonist, Trumpeter, and Slide Trombonist. In addition to his recognition of the mastery of Louis Hottot, these minstrels serve as Matthews' tribute to the black contribution to America's music culture.

     Matthews has expanded that series with tributes to modern jazz musicians, releasing Hot Horn based on Dizzy Gillespie, Final Ovation based on Miles Davis, and Sizzlin' Sax based on Charlie Parker.

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