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New Press

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

New Release

This is a C-47 cassette release of a pair of solo improvisations recorded this past spring: baritone saxophone on the A side and bass clarinet on the B side. Releasaed by the YDLMIER label, it makes its debut this Thursday, July 15th, at the show described immediately below.

It will be available shortly on line and in the store at Weirdo Records.

 Steve Norton – Upcoming Shows

• July 15th (Thursday) 8 PM, I’ll be performing a solo set as part of the YLDMIER Tapes release party. This celebrates their second set of releases which includes my solo cassette It’s Hard Not To Be Who You Are as well as cassettes by Skinny Vinny, The Human Hairs and Undeveloped Piles, with performances by all the above. It all goes down at 381 Congress St., 2nd floor, Boston
• August 5th (Wednesday) 8 PM, I’ll be performing with Symptomatic, my duo with Vic Rawlings, at The Whitehaus, 12 Seaverns Ave., Jamaica Plain. Also performing, percussionists Jack Callahan (western Mass) and Ben Bennett (Columbus OH) who are on a BIKE tour of Massachusetts and southern Vermont(!).
• August 10th (Tuesday) 8 pm, with Duck That at P.A.’s Lounge, Somerville MA.
  Also appearing: J. Graf, Cereal & Salamander Wool.
• August 17th (Tuesday) 8 pm, with Duck That at the Umbrella Gallery, Fitchburg MA. Also appearing: Eric Dahlman and Dead Finks.
• September 16th (Thursday) 8 pm, with Duck That at The Starving Artist, Keene NH.
• September 24th (Friday) 8 PM, with Grizzler at The Outpost, 186 Hampshire St., Cambridge. Also appearing: clarinettist Krista Martynes from Montreal.

Show archive

Biography / Discography

Current projects

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 MySpace page.

Duck That This trio was formed to focus on game calls (!) as a sound source. I play saxophones, bass clarinet and game calls with Angela Sawyer (electronics, voice, game calls) and Josh Jefferson (alto sax, bass clarinet, 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)