Saxophonist Matt Rippetoe is a busy man. A mainstay within the D.C. jazz circuit, Rippetoe plays regularly with several different groups that cover a variety of styles. He has performed at Bohemian Caverns, Blues Alley, Cafe Nema, Jo-Jos, Tryst, Utopia, Columbia Station... basically all the local places. The time has finally arrived for him to take charge as a band leader and this Sunday, June 29th, at 8 p.m., he will celebrate the release of Boink, his first CD as a leader, at Bossa Bistro & Lounge.

Rippetoe began his studies in the late 80s under the tutelage of local sax great Ron Kearns. He went to West Virginia for undergrad studies and moved to Pittsburgh for a spell, playing the standard wedding gigs, club dates, and big band gigs. Rippetoe then landed a gig as a cruise ship musician that took him around the world over the course of the next several years. After returning to the D.C. area, he completed a Master's degree in Jazz Studies at the University of Maryland under the supervision of Chris Vadala in 2002.

His new album, Boink, is much more contemporary than most products of D.C.'s jazz scene. Employing an electric bass player and exploring styles outside of straight ahead acoustic jazz, the CD is a refreshing change of pace. The songs showcase Rippetoe's skill as a composer and range from the Latin-influenced "Lady Bugs", to the rock of "Green Apples", to the uptempo swing of "Flash Flood". The album is well recorded and mixed and features some fine playing by all the members of Rippetoe's group. In all, it is a solid effort from an up-and-coming musician.

Visit Matt online at: www.mattrippetoe.com; www.myspace.com/dingdongneck

See him next: Sunday, July 29 at Bossa Bistro & Lounge, 8 p.m.; The National Gallery's "Jazz in the Garden" series on Friday, August 3rd at 5 p.m.

Buy his album: His album, Boink, will be available on CDBaby beginning July 30. In the mean time, visit one of his web sites for song samples.

Questions for Matt:

How did you go about choosing material for the CD? Is the focus on original material?

All original material. This past May I spent a week alone in a house in the mountains at Berkeley Springs, WV. I had the whole week to devote to practicing saxophone, reading, hiking—to kind of recharge creatively—I ended up writing most of the material in that week. I had already written the tunes for the recording, but after going back to those tunes I realized that the new material better reflected where I am musically right now. Within the original pieces on the CD are short clips from a twenty-five minute improvisation guitarist John Lee and I recorded while waiting for the other guys in the studio. Upon listening back, we heard some really nice things that we thought would be perfect as interludes in between tunes.

Who do you have playing on the CD? How did you go about selecting musicians? What was the recording process like?

The other musicians are John Lee on guitar, Mark Foster on electric bass and Larry Ferguson on drums. I have been working with John and Larry so much over the last year and a half and I feel that we really connect musically. We work together in six other projects, including our trio (the Vampire Monkeys) in which the music is all improvised, enhanced by loop stations and effects pedals. We really understand each other when we're on stage, I think. It's a really great thing, and they really play well on the CD. Mark Foster has played bass in my trio for a few years now and I really like his electric bass sound. Having the electric bass allows us to channel rock and fusion genres—as well as jazz, blues and funk—effectively.

I met John and Larry when I started playing with keyboardist/composer Dan Roberts. Dan's tunes are very musical and super-challenging and lean more toward instrumental indie rock instead of traditional jazz. These guys have introduced me to so many new music groups and have kind of changed the way I listen to stuff and I figured they would be the best choice for the CD.

The recording process was very smooth. We tracked the tunes in three days. Rob Byers from NPR engineered and mixed the cd, and was incredibly cooperative and easy to work with. Rob's a drummer and a musician himself, so he is able to translate ideas and thoughts to guys (me) who don't understand complicated sound engineer terminology. Ha.

Where do you play around town?

This group and these tunes are new, so this configuration hasn't seen many stages yet, but I have played all over town. My home away from home is Bossa Bistro and Lounge on 18th street. It's one of the few places in D.C. that features live music for free almost every night. You can go see excellent Brazilian jazz, straight-ahead jazz, New Orleans style funk, free improvised music and even singer-songwriters. DJs spin upstairs on weekends. To me, it's just a really comfortable atmosphere crafted by management that really cares about art and music.

What are your short and long term goals as far as the CD and your performing?

I'd like to sell every single copy, press a thousand more, sell all of those, repeat. Ha. In terms of my own goals, I just want to keep learning how to play the saxophone and keep playing with musicians that challenge me. This past year has been really great for me in terms of my own musical growth and the great musicians I'm meeting, and I just want to keep that up. As I listen back to the CD I feel that this really shows through. I couldn't have recorded this two years ago.

What are your thoughts on the state of D.C.'s jazz scene?

Well, when I moved back to the area in 2000, I didn't know that many musicians, so it wasn't necessarily easy for me to get a good idea of the scene. But it seems that the last four or five years has seen a real growth in terms of places to play as well as musicians out there doing really great, new creative stuff. There are so many groups I could mention, but off the top of my head the ones that really stick out are The Young Lions, definitely check them out, keyboardist Will Rast's funk trio is great, they're at Tryst on Mondays. Tenor sax players Joe Henson and Tedd Baker lead exciting groups that are always on fire. And Thad Wilson is a good, hardworking trumpet player around town that provides lots of opportunities for people to play and leads his own trio and big band every week. There's a whole lot to see around town these days, so it's pretty exciting.

Photo by Doug Sanford