The Musical Maturing of Matt Savage

Matt Savage, jazz piano player 16 years old.

Groovy stuff boys and girls...

from the WSJ today:

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTOCTOBER 29, 2008
MUSIC
The Musical Maturing of Matt Savage
By CORINNA DA FONSECA-WOLLHEIM
New York

When you have been declared "a new Mozart" by Dave Brubeck you'd be forgiven for feeling some pressure, but Matt Savage manages to keep his cool. The now 16-year-old jazz pianist whose previous autism and precocious talent drew intense media and medical scrutiny when he began performing with jazz greats eight years ago, is finally shedding the circus attention his savant status brought. His performance at New York's Cachaça Jazz Club on Oct. 18 offered a chance to see the musical maturing of a phenomenally talented pianist and composer who demands to be taken seriously on purely musical terms.

Joined by his gifted New York-based sidemen -- David Robaire on bass and Joe Saylor on drums -- Mr. Savage performed several new songs alongside favorites from his most recent album, "Hot Ticket," and classics by Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, and Rodgers and Hammerstein. The centerpiece of the evening was the premiere of Mr. Savage's most substantial composition to date, "Big Apple Suite." Beginning and ending with quotes from Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," the four-movement suite is a testament to the pianist's confidence and growing maturity. The music follows the rhythm of day and night in the city, beginning with a funky and, thanks to Mr. Saylor's artistry, infectiously danceable first movement that brought to mind '70s TV cop shows.

The second movement is built on a three-chord sequence that vacillates between major and minor. Mr. Savage quickly took it to strange places, launching into crisp variations in the high register of the piano, then letting his bassist run with it. By the end of the movement, the three chords that sounded so strange to begin with seemed to perfectly capture the essence of New York: a kind of Big Apple cadence.

In the most reflective part of the composition, "The City Sleeps," melody took center stage. The movement ended with a long bass solo that Mr. Robaire played beautifully with a rich, resonant tone. The awakening of the city gave Mr. Saylor a chance to show off his artistry in a percussion solo that experimented with pitch as much as rhythm. When the piano and bass joined in, the musical elements of the preceding movements came together into a joyful whole that once again held '70s inflections. By the time Mr. Savage returned to "Rhapsody in Blue," he fully owned the tune.


much more and audio links @ the link above

Check him out in this video