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i (inimiu\\!Since he began studying piano at the age ot17, he says the industry has changedtremendously. %u201cThere were a lot moreneighborhood clubs back then in places likeHarlem and Bedford Stuyvesant,\Jobs were much more available with allthat live music.%u201dThe change came when big moneyentered the record industry. \be bigger and bigger and these little placescouldn%u2019t make it anymore,%u201d he explains.%u201cEverything got to be big record sales, bigclubs, big this, big that.\Today, he says, the emphasis on big putsmusicians in a much more uncertain position. \everything or being nothing,%u201d he says, adding that he fits into that system veryprecariously. %u201cBut studying music is alifetime study, and I wasn%u2019t thinking aboutthe business of it when I started, I justwanted to learn how to play and play infront of people,\I may fit in precariously, I have done a lotof really good and big things working withthe great names in the jazz business andcoming up at a time when many of the innovators of be-bop were alive and well,%u201dJAZZ HASN'T CHANGEDIn some ways, he points out, acceptanceof jazz has not changed over the years.When Mathews switched from his pre-medprogram at Brooklyn College at the age of19 and transferred to Manhattan School ofMusic, playing jazz music in the studiothere was looked down upon. %u201cI would practice jazz and the teacher would come in andtell me to stop playing that kind of music. Iwas disturbing the rest of the class,%u201d heremembers. Similarly, he points out, today%u2019s market for jazz music is still smallenough that sales of 50,000 to 100,000 recordsmeans a big success.%u201cIn many parts of the world, jazz is considered a great art form. People call itAmerica%u2019s original art form, America%u2019sclassical music or Afro-American music,%u201dhe says. %u201cHere, symphony orchestras don%u2019tmake it on ticket sales, they make it on subsidies because European classical music isconsidered worthy,%u201d Mathews says. Despiteeverything, however, the lack of popularsupport, the lack of subsidies, Mathewsleans back on his seat and says, %u201cIt is atribute to the music and the musicians thatit is surviving with very little and will continue to survive.%u201d %u2014 L .K .%u201cSo Sorry Please ...%u201d has been released by Nilva Records and is availableat Tower Records.J o h n M o n ti (P h o e n ix /K o c h P hoto)A Brookyn ArtistBuilds A DreamFrom CarpentryBY LIZ KOCHIn a cavernous apartment on ProspectPark West, John Monti creates sculpturethat evokes a sense of tribal art; an oddcreation for the 1980%u2019s. Built of plywood construction and partially painted black, themore recent constructivist tradition is alsoevoked. And with plywood and carpentrytools occupying one corner of his newlybuilt loft, Monti laughs a bit as he regardshis work and reflects back on his shortalthough recently successful stay in NewYork City.He wanders through his apartment atease with his lifestyle and his current boutwith success in the New York art world, butstates mildly, %u201cI have an idea of how thingscould turn out next year, but then again younever know. The art world is a constantlychanging and tumbling environment andwhat is big this year, may completelychange by next year. You don%u2019t focus on being commercially successful.%u201dMonti arrived in New York five years agoand earned a Masters of Fine Arts insculpture from Pratt Institute. From thattime on, he sees his increasing success,both financially and artistically, as agradual process, very predetermined andset in steps that only this past year provedto be without a doubt upward. He is not anart superstar of the 80%u2019s by any means, butrather a product of gradual grooming, hesays, working his way from exhibiting afew works in the back room of a gallery, toparticipating in group shows. In 1983, he exhibited his work at a massive exhibit at theBrooklyn Army Terminal and last fall wasincluded in a show at the Brooklyn Museumentitled %u201cWorking in Brooklyn %u2014Sculpture.%u201d At that time, a New York Timesart critic included some positive remarksabout Monti%u2019s work in his review of theshow.%u201cThat was nice,%u201d Monti says, his headuobuing. The following spring, Monti had asell-out show at the Kurt Marcus Gallery inSoho that netted another positive review inthe Times and leads him to say a bit moreboisterously, %u201cThat was a real surprise.%u201d Ayet bigger surprise came just weeks agowhen Monti learned that he was the recipient of a $15,000 grant from the NationalEndowment for the Arts. Employed as acarpenter, Monti says his immediate futurenow looks relaxed as he plans to %u201cbuystudio time%u201d with the grant money andreserve his building skills for his sculpture.Monti%u2019s studio in his apartment is filledwith drawings, which he says are separatefrom his sculpture, and several of his woodsculptures. %u201cPeople look at them andsometimes are just impressed that they arevery finely made, but I hope that they seemore in them than that,%u201d he says. Thesculptures Monti creates are in many waysvery accessible, with a clean and refinedconstruction of forms that resemble masks,the human figure and tribal forms. Recently he has begun to include a coiling elementin his work that resembles both the curve ofa ram%u2019s horn and the tight line of a snake.Although Monti exudes a limited confidence now, he says the nervousness ofpossibly not making it will always remain.%u201cAt some point you just decide you willtake risks without a question,%u201d he says. Heplans to continue with his sculpture for aslong as he can, pointing out that in the past,doubts about his work had surfaced, leadinghim to wonder whether he would continue.%u201cIt was never a question of whether Iwanted to, but whether I could,%u201d he says.WILL SCULPT FOREVERMonti puts his recent success in strongperspective and shrugs off the question ofthe future, saying only, %u201cI hope to be allowed to do this for the rest of my life.%u201d Thesell-out show is now behind him and he sayshis focus in on his work again. %u201cI just wantto keep making better things. I think that%u2019swhat most artists strive for,%u201d he says.Despite the sell-out, he veers away frompredicting similar responses in the future.%u201cYou don%u2019t make your work for a particular group of people or an audience,%u201d hesays. %u201cThe audience has to be attracted toyour work. The work has to pull them inand if it%u2019s done any other way then you maybe a success for a year, but it will only be aflash and nothing that will last,%u201d he says.Asked if he plans to last, Monti looksthoughtful for a moment and with a certainty of the future characteristic about the artworld, says, %u201cI hope so.%u201d %u2014 L.K.1 OEffil I HILL I KIN265 COURT STREET, BROOKLYN 596-9113D o u b le F ea tu re |H eld Over%u201c N o th in g In C o m m o n %u201dFri: 5:30, 7 :4 5 ,1 0 Sat 5:30 S un 4 15, 7. 9:15 M on., Tues., T hu rs.: 7:15, 9:30 W ed.: 2:45, 5, 7:10, 9:20Sneak Preview hlW ren's M arinesSaturday at ( t 8P M Sat 1 & 4, Sun\& W e d 1PM %u201cTransform ers\Rob R einer%u2019s%u201cStand By Me%u201dF ri 5:15, 7, 8:40, 10:20 S a t: 1, 2:50, 4:40, 7, 8:40, 10:20 S u n , W ed: 1, 2:45, 4:30. 6:15, 8, .9 :4 0 M o n , Tues, T h u rs : 6, 7 :4 5 ,9:3C Children's M atinee5Sat. 8 Sun. 2:30%u201c Flight of th e Navigator\%u25a0 W e h ave D olby S te re oNewly DecoratedUpstairs Dining RoomNow OpenFor Your Special Party NeedsUnlimited LiquorHot Buffet or Sit Down DinnerMinimum 35 people. $23.95 per person + tax&gratFOR INFORMATION CALL 788-3245140 7th Ave. Brooklyn NY 11215%u201c The M e n %u2019s C lub%u201dTreat W illiam s, Harvey Keitel,Roy S ch eld erFri.: 5:45, 9:25 Sat.: 2:15, 5:45,9.25Sun.: 1:10, 4:40, 8:15 Tuea. 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