It’s been a wild winter in terms of weather. Up here in the Northeast, we’ve experienced temperatures below zero and above 60 degrees. But that’s about to end with the arrival of spring… and a new album.
Over the last few months, I’ve been balancing two very different musical endeavors. One is the Matt Savage Groove Experiment, a new instrumental funk band (sometimes with vocal guests) that I started in Boston back in November. With influences ranging from Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters to Bob Marley to Daft Punk, we take rhythmic hit songs and add intense jazz-fusion improvisation to them. I’ve written a lot of new funk tunes for this band.
On the other hand, I’ve continued to play solo shows, especially at benefit events. And, I have some classical pieces too; I’ll play those in Cambridge, MA on Monday, March 14.
I’ve been exploring the more intimate side of jazz piano with bassist Shota Ishikawa; Shota has a new duo album with me called It’s My Request. That album is predominantly made up of jazz standards.
But my next album (to be released this fall) will feature solo piano material from a diverse range of composers (not just jazz standards) as well as recent original tunes of mine. It will be recorded this month in Brooklyn, New York, over two days. The recording process will be very spontaneous, and the final release will probably sound very different from what I am imagining right now.
After the recording, I’ll have some time to kick back musically, with Groove Experiment gigs in New York City on March 25 and April 17.
There’s a lot to think about as I enter this new and different period of my musical life. But I’ll have some time over the summer to get this album together… while continuing my Boston teaching schedule.
It’s going to be a great tour and I hope to see you very soon.
Matt
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