Sam Masich
SamSongs Music
Sam Masich has some 100 of the over 400 songs in his catalogue published by artists spanning genres of folk, jazz, pop and rock. With 13 albums to his credit he has recorded and co-written with Thomas Hopf, Bobby Kapp, Michael Friedman, Christine Duncan, Miles Black, Michael Creber and many others. More below at 'Me and Music,' the Sam Masich music auto-biography and discography.
NEW!
Tame It
Sam & Tom
After years of duo gigs and jam sessions in and around Berlin, Sam Masich and Thomas Hopf lay down their unique take on Sam's tunes. The result is Tame It, a nine-track album with a decidedly acoustic sound which includes some of Sam's best-loved tunes as well as some new offerings. Tom's performances on electric, steel-string, and nylon-string guitars as well as dobro set these tunes in a way that is both new and familiar.
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I've been gratified over the years to hear my tunes and words come out of the mouths and instruments of some incredible, even world-class, musicians. Christine Duncan lent her astonishing voice to my songs from the mid-to-late 1990's. Michael Friedman, who I co-wrote with from 1996 to 2005, still uses our songs as a vehicle to showcase his amazing guitar style and fine voice. These artists have recorded several albums containing my work and this has given me some of my greatest pleasure as a songwriter. Michael's and my work has been played by full orchestras in Europe.
As far as my own performing goes, I have worked mostly in solo, duo and trio formats. I toured and recorded with Christine Duncan in the late 90s as a duo act. In 1999 I joined Michael Friedman and Mark James Fortin to form a trio called FFM which wrote and toured from 2001 until 2007. I've also recorded three albums in various configurations with master free-jazz drummer Bobby Kapp and as well as an acoustic duo album with the great Berlin-based guitarist Thomas Hopf.
Just as songwriting has led me to performing, it has also led me to producing. Over the years I've managed to fit a few dates in as a producer with projects ranging from the sparse, haunting and hilarious WRONG by Scott Katz to a nationally broadcast Canadian concert/documentary film portrait Coming Home: Christine Duncan at Christ Church Cathedral featuring a 17 piece jazz orchestra.
I also sporadically teach guitar and songwriting and have been on faculty at the Georgia Straight Guitar Workshop and the Moveable Music School. I enjoy teaching guitar and am always looking for new ways to communicate musical ideas.
As the great sage said, "Don't die with your music still in you."
Me and Music
I started by writing poems, but I didn't feel they were strong enough on their own. Music was the water I could pour onto my verses to make them grow. Gradually, I became a songwriter, a singer, and a guitar player.
Luba Dvorak covers the Sam's song Nuclear Waltz on his album Starr Street Blues
Discography
2022 Tame It —Sam & Tom
2017 Lucky Time—Sam Masich
2006 Diamond Space—Michael Friedman
2005 Cinematic—FFM (Friedman, Fortin & Masich)
2005 Cow!—Aldous Orwell Project (Sam Masich)
2005 Blue Manifesto—Sam Masich & Bobby Kapp
1998 Why It Happens—Sam Masich & Christine Duncan
1998 Angst Ridden Writer—Michael Friedman
1997 Different Standards—Christine Duncan
1997 The Vogue Show—Christine Duncan
1995 AniManiacal—Sam Masich
1994 Rhythm and Bliss—Moritz & the Fiddleheads
Good Reviews
Different Standards Christine Duncan
Music and Lyrics —Sam Masich
“...spontaneous, new and sophisticated...
while many songwriters aspire to creating new standards, Masich succeeds.”
— 5/4 Magazine. Seattle, USA
“...lyrical, haunting, unabashedly old fashioned—like discovering lost gems from a vintage Broadway musical that closed too soon because it was a little ahead of its time.”
— John Lekich, Georgia Straight, Vancouver, Canada
'Written by Sam Masich, the songs on Different Standards go far beyond the play on words suggested in the title, providing Miss Duncan with transcendental opportunities to vocalize'
—Westcoast Music Review
Cow! The Aldous Orwell Project Sam Masich
Music and Lyrics —Sam Masich
"Very outspoken. ‘Cow!’ is for the advanced listeners, who will put the disc in heavy rotation—mooo!
Everybody & everything is present: Richard Nixon, JFK, the CIA, God and the Devil, Baghdad, the American Dream, World War 3, Hitler, Stalin, Ghandi—the album is dedicated to Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore. But it all makes sense and never ends up in ranting,"
—Johanna J. Bodde, New Insurgent Country, Holland
Cinematic FFM
Music & Lyrics—M. Friedman, M. J.Fortin & S. Masich
...those people who can define in what key the door squeaks will tell us that there's not one wrong note on this whole album! ...from seemingly fluffy to definitely dark...folk-noire, but also funny!
—Johanna J. Bodde, New Insurgent Country, Holland
Why It Happens Christine Duncan & Sam Masich
Music and Lyrics—Sam Masich
"Their music is a folky jazz, blues and rock & roll fusion... innovative, refreshing, moving and always memorable."
—ExpressTunes.com, Seattle, USA
Angst Ridden Writer Michael Friedman
(Music—Michael Friedman/8 Lyrics—Sam Masich)
"Impeccable production - nothing overt - gentle but deep. Love in the Kitchen is delicious."
- Jurgeon Gothe's Hit List 1998, Vancouver, Canada
"...a polished singer/songwriter with a big guitar sound..."
—Coast Weekly, Monterey, CA
AniManiacal Sam Masich
Music and Lyrics—Sam Masich
"...Impressive pieces of art ... oddly familiar n un-hyped mimi masterpiece!"
—West Coast Music Review, Victoria, Canada