Please note: most of the bold text on this page is linked. Click it!

(not so) New Press

Writer Gordon Marshall wrote this nice article/interview on me at allaboutjazz.com.

• May 18th (Friday) 9 PM, Duck That will be playing at a studio party in Watertown. Email me for directions.
   
• May 19th (Saturday) 8 PM, I will be presenting Covers: three bands performing improvisations and familiar tunes at Opensound at Third Life Studios, Union Square, Somerville MA. Musicians include Duck That, Vic Rawlings, Brendan Murray, Chris Strunk, Tom Plsek, Matt Samolis and Forbes Graham.
   
• May 25th (Friday) 8 PM, I’ll be playing with CBCA, my duo with Mike Bullock, in which he plays his contrabass (“CB”) and I play my contra alto clarinet (“CA”), at Mobius, 55 Norfolk St., Cambridge MA.
   
• May 29th (Tueday) 7 PM, I’ll be performing with both Kilter, my duo with Curt Newton, and Duck That at Yes Oui Si (multi-sensory exhibition space), 19 Vancouver St., Boston MA. (Corner of Huntington Ave., near Mass Art and the MFA.) Also appearing: ?.
   
• May 31st (Thursday) 8 PM, with Symptomatic, my duo with Vic Rawings at The Museum School as part of Jesse Collins’ thesis presentation. More details on where and with whom TBA. 230 The Fenway Boston, MA.
   
• June 1st (Friday) 8 PM, with Symptomatic, my duo with Vic Rawings at Sonorium VII. Also performing: TBA. The Sonorium series is held at The Griffen Theatre, 7 Lynde Street, Salem MA.
   
• June 2nd (Saturday) 8 PM, I’ll be playing with Ricochet my duo with Noell Dorsey on voice and me on large reeds. It all happens at the Whitehaus, Jamaica Plain MA. (Email me for directions.) Also appearing: Pataphor, Los Condenados, Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk (Chicago) and EarthMasters (Brooklyn).
   
• June 4th (Monday) 8 PM, I’ll be playing with Grau Garten, (w/ Marc Bisson, guitar and Dei Xhrist, voice & electronics) at Weirdo Records, 844 Mass Ave., Cambridge MA.
   
• June 9th (Saturday) 7 PM, I’ll be performing with Mission Creep at Goatstock 6 (benefit for Heifer International) at the Nave Gallery at the Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church, 155 Powderhouse Boulevard, Somerville MA. Also on the bill: Astro Al and Tim Mungenast and His Preexisting Conditions.
   
• June 10th (Sunday) 8 PM, I’ll be performing with Mission Creep at Inferno, Brattleboro VT. Also on the bill: TBA.
   
• June 11th (Monday) 7 PM, I’ll be performing with Mission Creep at Red Square, Burlington VT.
   

Show archive

Biography / Discography

Current projects

Means of Production This is my on-line and CD-R label, with eCommerce provided by the inestimable Weirdo Records.

Solo For a full description, see this page.

Metal & Glass Ensemble Drone-based soundscapes and just-intonation tunings are the primary concern of this ensemble of 5 to 9 or more musicians lead by Matt Samolis. The foundational sounds are generated by the steel cello (the bowed metal) and tuned glasses. I play bass clarinet (lotsa long tones & circular breathing) and some bowed metal. For more info, see the Metal & Glass Ensemble’s page on Matt’s Web site.

Duck That This group was formed to focus on game calls (!) as a sound source. I play saxophones, large clarinets, percussion and game calls with Angela Sawyer (electronics, voice, game calls) Josh Jefferson (alto sax, bass clarinet, game calls) and Keiichi Hashimoto (all manner of high brass, game calls). For more info, see the Duck That MySpace page.

Grizzler is an improvising large ensemble lead by Dave Gross. Numbering anywhere between 9 and 13 (and sometimes more!) players, Grizzler concentrates its energies on the layering of individual voices and the intersection of the ensemble and the space. I primarily play baritone saxophone and bass clarinet. The group has no Web site yet, but Dave Curry (our violist) wrote a nice blog entry about the band here.

Symptomatic, with Vic Rawlings on analog electronics and me on reeds. Obstinate strata; solid blocks of texture. [ more ]

Kilter, with Curt Newton on percussion and me on reeds. Straight-up free improv, building on our 20+ years of playing together. [ more ]

Steve Lacy’s Tips: we’ve assembled a trio of Noell Dorsey (voice), Matt Samolis (flute) and me on bass clarinet to perform Steve Lacy’ epigrammatic opus Tips. [ more ]

Spam, an improvising trio of Matt Samolis on flute, Curt Newton on percussion and me on reeds, tapes and stuff. The goal of the performances is (amongst other things) to expose the absurdities and unexpected beauties of viral email marketing. As the bio says, “Worn chant transplant imitable Delivery Status Notification (Failure) take asymmetric tizzy dream in a waking state Live your life, prescription-free Achieve all the gains in length knead knee kneecap kneel knell endpoint staccato. Matt Samolis–flute, tangerine roland; Steve Norton–reeds, things we need; and Curt Newton–percussion, choosy bloodstone.”

Endguys (Steve Norton & Matt Samolis)

Glacier Harvest (An MP3 album by Steve Norton & Matt Samolis)

debris (my band for 12 years, 1986 – 1998)