Michael Masen is a 44-year-old self-taught Austrian saxophone player. He plays in bands such as Mozo Mozo, FS Massaker, Ouls and Astro Black. He shared stages with Linda Sharrock, Mario Rechtern, Eric Zinman, Virginia Genta, David Vanzan and Michael Fischer and performed with Banana Chain and Darwinism 4 Dummies. He was also a guest musician for Pulverin, Hella Comet, Rolltreppe, Meltdowner and Desolat.
skug: Why did you choose the saxophone as »your instrument«? Was it a record, or a player, or the instrument itself?
Michael Masen: Of all the instruments out there, the saxophone was the only one that made me feel the urge to play it myself, or where I felt like I could actually manage it. The first time a saxophone really blew me away was in the early 2000s, when I saw Peter Brötzmann with Full Blast in Vienna at Porgy & Bess. From that point on, I started listening to a lot of free jazz and freely improvised music.
When did you start to take playing music serious? Did you have formal musical training?
I actually only started playing the saxophone at the age of 30. I had thought before that it would be great to play the saxophone, but I kept putting it aside as a nice dream because I had never learned an instrument before and thought I wouldn’t be able to do it. A few years later, while I was writing for the »mica« music magazine, I interviewed the great Viennese saxophonist Michael Fischer. We sat together for a long time, chatted, and had a few beers. At some point, I complained to him about how I would love to play the saxophone but was probably too old to learn. He simply said I should just go for it and offered to go with me to buy a saxophone a few days later. And that’s exactly what we did. We went to the store together and tested out a few saxophones. In the process, he showed me how to blow into the thing so that a sound would come out. That was it, though, and I’ve never been closer to a music lesson than that moment.
Who do you see as your masters and your teachers?
When it comes to playing the saxophone, I’ve been deeply influenced by records, concerts or simply their approach to create music by Peter Brötzmann, Kaoru Abe, Virginia Genta, Paul Flaherty and Charles Gayle. But more than that, it’s the people who played with me from the beginning and kicked my butt to start playing live early on. My first band was a duo with my friend Werner Thenmayer, an amazing drummer with whom I practiced once a week for the first few years. He encouraged me to perform live after just a few months. I could rely on the fact that if I couldn’t pull it together, he was good enough on his own that it wouldn’t be extremely embarrassing. Without him, I probably would have given up at some point.
Who do you see as your »peers«, as the people around you who you feel related to?
Everyone who contributes to ensuring that music or art in general, which doesn’t fill stadiums, continues to happen. Everyone who organizes concerts because they care about it, not because they want to get rich, those who provide spaces where art can take place, people who connect others, run labels, make music, write about it, go to concerts, and so on.
I really enjoyed your »under the bridge« performance »Alto Sax Vienna 2024«. Which role does performing solo play in your musical practice?
Thank you, I’m really happy to hear that. The recording was made under a highway bridge, just a few minutes’ walk from my apartment. I discovered the spot a few years ago, and when it’s not too cold, I often play there. However, I tend to play quieter pieces, as you can hear on this recording. For years, there was nothing there, and then sometime this summer, they built a bike path overnight, and a few times I’ve almost been killed by a speeding delivery guy on his e-bike. As for the role of my solo playing. I haven’t really thought much about what role playing solo has for me. So probably none in particular. I just enjoy playing, and if no one else is around, then I play alone.
What are you currently listening to?
I am listening a lot to the »Six Pieces for Solo Violin« by composer Sophia Jani. Then there is this fabulous record »Zwinger« by Drug Searching Dogs that is going to be released these days on Interstellar Records, the first Dälek record »Negro Necro Nekros«, and not to be forgotten »WEBO« by Charles Gayle, Milford Graves and William Parker. And of course Bach’s »Goldberg Variations«, which I never get tired of. Currently in the recording of Kimiko Ishizaka.
If you play the saxophone, do you feel you carry the history of the instrument with you? And do you see that as a positive or a negative thing?
Not at all. I blow in at the top, and noise comes out at the bottom. That’s all I need.
Is it possible to play the saxophone without sounding like jazz?
I’m not falling for this trick question. If I say the wrong thing, Anthony Braxton might show up and kick my ass.
