Concerts and Art Exhibits at
Las Placitas Presbyterian Church
Highway 165, Placitas NM
Directions
2 pm - Visual Artists Reception
3 pm - Concert
Please check individual concert details
as dates and times may be subject to
change
January 15, 2023
Matt Savage Trio - Jazz
Sponsored by - Rondi and Duane Thornton, Harriet and James Neal,
Barb Reeback and Del Packwood,
Joann MacKenzie, The Financial Maestro, and Scott MacKenzie
Matt Savage, age 29, has had a remarkable 20-year professional career as a jazz
musician, bandleader and composer with ensembles of different size. He’s played
with some of the biggest names in jazz, including Chick Corea, the Ellington All
Stars, Chaka Khan, and Wynton Marsalis. Along the way, he’s recorded twelve
albums as leader and one as collaborator. He is a Bösendorfer piano artist.
As a composer, Matt has garnered respect and recognition. He composed and
recorded the score for a full-length documentary film, Sound of Redemption: The
Frank Morgan Story. Additionally, Savage wrote almost all the songs on his twelve
albums. Matt’s latest project is the Matt Savage Groove Experiment’s debut EP,
Splash Variations, which was released on December 7, 2018, and was accompanied
by a CD release tour in early 2019. Read More about Matt.
Joining Matt for this quintessential jazz concert are locals David Flores on drums,
and John Funkhouser on bass.
Matt Savage
In-Person Ticket Sales Online are closed; this is a sold out concert
Virtual View Ticket Sales now closed
Savage has toured worldwide, including performances at The Kennedy Center, Carnegie
Hall, Birdland, and Blue Note, and has performed at the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival,
the Monterey Jazz Festival, , the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the Earshot Jazz Festival and
has toured Japan, China, India, and Spain.
Having received his Bachelor’s Degree from Berklee College of Music and his Master’s
Degree from Manhattan School of Music, Matt balances his professional music career
with teaching. In the Boston area, Matt is an adjunct professor at Longy School of Music
of Bard College, Saint Anselm College, and Bunker Hill Community College, and he also
teaches at Community Music Center of Boston. He gives masterclasses and workshops
domestically and internationally as well as private piano lessons.
A New Mexico drummer by way of the Bay Area, David Flo-
res began his musical journey at the ripe age of three, when
he performed on a set of pots and pans in his family’s
kitchen. He grew up steeped in music; as a child he would
tag along to his father’s gigs and rehearsals. Since then, he
has developed a career of over 30 years as an educator, per-
former, and above all, tireless student of his instrument.
Versatility is one of Flores’s great strengths and a leading
inspiration. From Afro-Caribbean to funk to straight-ahead
jazz to coaching drumlines, if it’s rhythmically oriented,
Flores is among the best. His performance and studio career
include tours, gigs, and recordings with artists such as
Donna Summer, Lauryn Hill, Paquito De Rivera, John Santos,
Charlie Musselwhite, New Mexico Latin Jazz Orchestra, and
the Oakland Symphony.
A native of the Boston area, pianist, bassist, composer and
educator John Funkhouser has shared the stage with Joe
Lovano, Steve Gadd, Charles Neville, Bobby Watson, Esper-
anza Spalding, as well as many of New Mexico’s most
beloved musicians such as Glen Kostur, Alex Murzyn,
Hilary Smith, Bobby Shew, and the Albuquerque Jazz
Orchestra. Funkhouser has performed at clubs and festi-
vals all over the world, including the Blue Note, Birdland,
and Dizzy’s in New York City, as well as the New Orleans
Jazz Festival, the Kennedy Center, the Toulon Jazz Festival,
and the Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival. He has toured
extensively in North and Central America, as well as
Europe, Southeast Asia, and South Africa. He has appeared
on ABC’s “20/20,” NBC’s “Today Show,” and National Pub-
lic Radio. He taught piano, bass, ear training and ensem-
bles at Berklee College of Music in Boston from 2001-2021.
He currently resides in Albuquerque, where he keeps a
busy schedule of performing and teaching.
