John C. Savage

Background

About John C. Savage

Flutist, saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, improviser, and educator John C. Savage has been compared to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Herbie Mann, Noah Howard, Ian Anderson, and Colin Stetson. Savage has performed and recorded with, among others, the avant world-jazz duo Cartridge (The Black Heron and the Spoonbill), the Andrew Hill Big Band (A Beautiful Day), The Kitsune Ensemble (The Kaidan Suite and Amanogawa), releases with composer-drummer Ken Ollis on PJCE Records (Demolition Duo and Senses Sharpened), the jazz-funk quintet Groove Revelation (Grindin’), and the poetry and music duo, Thick In The Throat, Honey (Love Letters We Never Sent). Savage has received honors and awards from the Atlantic Center for the Arts, New York University, the Oregon Arts Commission, Bandcamp Weekly, The College Music Society, and the Portland-based Regional Arts and Culture Council. He holds a Ph.D. from New York University in music performance with emphases in improvisation, jazz, theory, and contemporary techniques. His dissertation’s methodology used analytical techniques from the fields of ethnomusicology and music philosophy in order to create a theory of flute performance and pedagogy for the twenty-first century. Savage currently teaches flute and saxophone at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.