hi i\'m matt, and thanks for visiting me...
i am a solo saxophonist living in cincinnati, ohio.
some people have asked, \"why do you play solo rather than play in a band?\" and the reason is that in playing alone, the beauty, simplicity, and freedom are just too good to pass up.
i do however play in two duo groups. i am the second half of the ambient duo \"barnett / baumann\" with guitarist eric barnett and the other member of \"upaj\" with tabla master jim feist.
while difficult to categorize, the music I play is more or less an ambient, open, and free kind of music that relies heavily on longer tones and folk-like melodies. in addition to an open sound, i do sometimes use more modern saxophone techniques like key clicks, breath effects, and multiphonics to help create more distance and echoes in my music.
the music i play is heavily influenced by places of desolation, deserts, sky, emptiness, and the great open spaces (both that i\'ve seen and those i long to see).
\"grounded\" is a kind of homage to some of my influences. early on when i really began to listen to jazz and really began to practice and take saxophone seriously, there were five main influences i had: joe henderson, sonny rollins, john coltrane, albert ayler, and jan garbarek. i couldn\'t get enough of these great musicians, and now that i feel more comfortable as a saxophonist i wanted to do something small for them in my own way. i hope the music here reminds some of you of some of the musicians i\'ve mentioned, and as my friend Eric said of \"grounded\", \"it sounds like it was recorded in the 60\'s\". i\'m glad someone else hears it as i do, and i truly hope you find something here to enjoy. as always i don\'t want to forget to say thank you for reading and thank you so much more for listening...
MB
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