The Matt Savage Groove Experiment plays pianist Matt Savage’s original composition, “The Allston Anthem”… which is also the first song off of the Experiment’s new EP “The Groove Reawakens.” “The Groove Reawakens” will be out on Friday, December 2, 2022, on all streaming platforms and on CD. The tune is named after a neighborhood in Boston where Matt Savage lived for over five years. Allston is home to a lot of musicians and students, and there is a nightlife scene there. This video was recorded live at The Jungle Community Music Club in Somerville, MA, on August 7, 2022.
“Etude No. 7″ – Live at Longy School of Music
Pianist Matt Savage plays his original Etude No. 7 in B Major, from a cycle of 12 Etudes for Piano, which were written during the pandemic and premiered in Boston last year (2021). This video is part of Savage’s debut faculty recital at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA, which occurred on March 23, 2022. Matt Savage is on the Collaborative Piano and Jazz/Contemporary Music faculty there. At this debut recital, he did one set of classical piano, followed by a jazz trio and quartet set. The etude focuses on tremolos for the majority of its duration, and it also includes a great deal of tempo changes.
Matt Savage Trio – “The Savage Life Chose Me” – Live in New Hampshire
The Matt Savage Trio plays one of Matt’s brand-new original tunes, “The Savage Life Chose Me”.
This song was recorded live in concert at the Old Meeting House, Francestown, NH, on August 30, 2020. And the August 30 concert was the first outdoor in-person performance of Matt Savage since the pandemic.
Matt Savage – piano; Soso Gelovani – bass; Zak King – drums
Matt Savage Quartet – “The Savage Life Chose Me” (Split-screen virtual collaboration)
This is my first quartet video in a while and I’m really proud of what I have so far. This is a brand-new original composition of mine called “The Savage Life Chose Me.” It was written at the end of 2019 and performed a couple of times before the lockdown hit.
I really wanted to share this one with you, so here it is. It’s a virtual quartet video (spliced together from four separate recordings) and I am extremely proud of my bandmates’ work on this one. “The Savage Life Chose Me” is what we jazz cats call a “burner” – a very fast tune influenced by the bebop classics of the ’40s and ’50s.
Matt Savage – keyboard; Mark Zaleski – alto saxophone; Max Ridley – bass; Zachary King – drums
Matt Savage Groove Experiment – “Sunny (For Sonny)” music video
Hello friends. I hope that you are all staying safe, happy and healthy in your quarantine. Here is a brand-new video from my fusion project, the Matt Savage Groove Experiment. This is a tune of mine called “Sunny (For Sonny)” – and it’s a tribute to 89-year-old living legend of the tenor saxophone, Sonny Rollins.
We hope you enjoy the calypso sounds of this one. We did this video shoot back in January – can’t believe it’s been three months since then. And we are looking forward to sharing more music with you at our future shows!
Matt Savage – keyboards; Aaron Gratzmiller – tenor saxophone; Javier Rosario – guitar; Evan Carley – electric bass; Zachary King – drums
The Groove Reawakens!
I am so excited to announce my first album in four years – The Groove Reawakens by the Matt Savage Groove Experiment. This is the Groove Experiment’s second project and the first one post-Covid.
I’m so grateful to all my fellow musicians who helped make this album sound great (Aaron Gratzmiller, Robbie Pate, Javier Rosario, Evan Carley, and Zak King).
You can stream this album on all platforms… or better yet, you can purchase this album on our online store.
Deeply honored to be making music again!
Matt Savage Trio – “I Know That You Know”
The Matt Savage Trio plays an underrated jazz classic called “I Know That You Know” by Vincent Youmans and Anne Caldwell. This tune was written in 1926 for the short-lived musical “Oh, Please!” – and it was further popularized 33 years later with the release of the classic jazz album “Sonny Side Up” by Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt.
This tune is a real “burner,” as jazz musicians like to call the really uptempo tunes…
Matt Savage – piano
Soso Gelovani – bass
Zachary King – drums
Matt Savage Groove Experiment – “Splash Variations” album trailer
This is the brand spankin’ new trailer for the Matt Savage Groove Experiment’s new EP, SPLASH VARIATIONS. The album will be out later this fall.
We are a jazz fusion collective. Half of our tunes are instrumental, and half are vocal (including some funkified jazz standards). And of course there’s also a tune where the entire lyrics are just “Splash!”
This artistic project has been three years in the making and I am so proud to be sharing the results with you.
Asia 2018
I had such a wonderful trip in Asia this summer that I don’t even know where to start.
But first I should explain everything and thank everyone who set this tour up.
This August 2018, I played in three Asian countries (India, Japan and China, in that order), two of them for the first time. I also spent a few days in Bangkok, Thailand during the off-days.
The India solo piano show was part of the International Autism Conference in Trivandrum, Kerala (on the very southern tip of the country), organized by CADRRE, the Autism Center. The Japan tour dates were all in Kobe, and that was my third time playing in that city with bassist friend Shota Ishikawa. And the China tour dates were all quartet performances, with a rising star alto saxophonist in Shanghai named Shihai Li.
This was the longest trip I had ever done, and even though I was totally exhausted by the end thanks to all of the flights, it was absolutely worth it.
In case you were wondering what the longest leg of the journey was, it was actually the first one – Boston to Dubai to Trivandrum (fun fact: the full name is Thiruvananthapuram).
In India, one of the most beautiful areas was the Kovalam beach, which is located outside Trivandrum in Kerala. This was my first time in India and my first time seeing the Indian Ocean. And the weather was very pleasant and cool due to the ocean climate and the humidity of the rainy season. The food is very fresh, with lots of fish curries and various types of bananas.
Then, in Thailand, I was able to catch up to several friends in Bangkok and sit in a couple of times at the famous Saxophone Jazz Club. Bangkok is a very fast-growing and cosmopolitan city, with lots of gorgeous temples (such as the Grand Palace) and a great variety of restaurants with very large menus.
In Japan, I got to visit my friend Shota Ishikawa’s neighborhood (Maiko, in west Kobe) for the first time, playing a solo show there at Kantokotoro. This hidden jazz club is located close to the top of a circle of hills, with views of the ocean and of the world’s longest suspension bridge. The next day, Shota and I played two gigs with two trios at Bar Request (where we recorded a live duet album three years prior). The other members of the trios were vocalist Mariko Yoshida and drummer Hiromasa Sadaoka.
Finally, in China, I touched down in Shanghai and played at three of China’s most renowned jazz clubs – Shanghai’s JZ Club, Beijing’s Blue Note, and Zhengzhou’s MJ Club. These were with a quartet with saxophonist (and New England Conservatory alum) Shihai Li, bassist Danny Zanker (an American living in Shanghai), and drummer Xiaolun (Scott) Xue.
The sheer size and beautiful landscapes of China are apparent right from the start – and nowadays you can see them from the 200 mph high speed trains that go all over the country. I saw many landmarks in China with some friends, including Tiananmen Square, Jingshan Park, and the 2,000 foot tall Shanghai Tower.
I have to thank Lakshmi Raghu, G. Vijaya Raghavan, Shihai Li, the Blue Note Beijing, Shota Ishikawa, Dai Murata, and all my friends in Bangkok for making these international trips so amazing.
Until next time – thank you Asia!
Beach in India
Grand Palace, Bangkok
View of Kobe from the hilltop
JW Marriott hotel building, Zhengzhou, China (the MJ Club, where we played, is in this building)
View from the Shanghai Tower
View of the Forbidden City, Beijing
Shota Ishikawa, Matt Savage, Hiromasa Sadaoka
Dai Murata, Matt Savage
Blog- April 2018
Hello friends. I feel so excited writing this because I actually haven’t left New England in a long time. But that’s going to change in a week or so as I hit the mid-Atlantic states…
First, however, I’ll be doing a special concert at the Lilypad in Cambridge on Monday. This Monday is a Massachusetts holiday (Patriots Day/Marathon Monday), so it’s not just any ordinary weekday. If you come early at 6 PM, saxophonist Aaron Gratzmiller (who also plays in the Matt Savage Groove Experiment) will open things up with a saxophone quartet show. And at 7 PM, I’ll be premiering my Piano Sonata No. 2 in Bb Major, which is a very long, ambitious and folk music-inspired work that channels American classical composers such as George Gershwin and Charles Ives.
On Friday the 20th and Saturday the 21st, I’ll be returning to Baltimore and Philadelphia for the first time in four years. The Baltimore show will be solo piano at An Die Musik (a lovely second-floor arts “salon” with a record store below). And the Philly show will be a trio concert with Lee Smith and Larry Marshall at Exuberance – a hidden spot that sells tickets through invitations and focuses on piano jazz.
Finally, I am coming to the University of Maine at Augusta on Thursday the 26th, which will mark my first performance in the Maine capital. I will be doing this performance as a sideman with drummer Chris Dzengelewski, although the Matt Savage Groove Experiment’s saxophonist Aaron Gratzmiller is also playing.
I’ve really missed these places and I am looking forward to catching up to all my friends around the country. There will be a lot of traveling involved but isn’t getting there half the fun?
On a side note, the Matt Savage Groove Experiment is going to release some new music soon, and the big announcement is yet to come…
See you real soon,
Matt
