Matt Savage
Matt Savage has traveled at an astonishing pace from life on a farm to professional composer and musician. His early years brought a unique set of challenges. At the age of three, Matt could not tolerate music or sounds in general, resulting in a diagnosis of Pervasive Development Disorder, a high-functioning type of Autism. For the next four years his parents immersed him in intensive intervention therapies. At age 6 ½, Matt emerged from therapy and completely involved himself in all things musical. Flourishing at a hyper-accelerated pace,
he taught himself to read music and play piano, literally overnight.
At the age of 26, Matt has had a seventeen-year professional career as a jazz musician, bandleader and composer with ensembles of different size. Since first labeled a “jazz prodigy” at age 8, he’s played with some of the biggest names in jazz, including Chick Corea, the Ellington All Stars, Chaka Khan, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Watson, Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, Jason Moran, Arturo O’Farrill, John Pizzarelli, Joshua Redman, Terri Lyne Carrington, Jon Faddis, Jerry Bergonzi and Donny McCaslin among others.
He’s also opened for rock legends Neil Young and Stephen Stills, and has performed with Steve Earle, Jackson Browne, Shawn Colvin and Al Stewart. Along the way, he’s recorded twelve albums as leader and one as collaborator. He is a Bösendorfer piano artist.
As a composer, Matt has garnered respect and recognition. He composed and recorded the score for a full-length documentary film, Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story. The movie, which premiered in 2014, chronicles the life of the late jazz alto saxophonist Frank Morgan. Additionally, Savage wrote almost all the songs on his twelve albums, several of which have been used in short documentaries, on web sites, in school music curricula and in government educational materials.
Matt’s latest project is the Matt Savage Groove Experiment’s debut EP, Splash Variations. Splash Variations was released on December 7, 2018, and it will be accompanied by a CD release tour in early 2019.
Savage has toured worldwide, including performances at The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Birdland, Blue Note (NYC), Bohemian Caverns, Smalls Jazz Club, The Town Hall, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Scullers, the Jazz Standard, the Pantages Theatre, the Iridium, the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, Heineken Jazzaldia (Spain), the Costa Rica International Jazz Festival, the International VSA Arts Festival, the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the Earshot Jazz Festival, tours of Japan, China, India, Curacao, Aruba and Singapore.
From his emergence as a child prodigy to his continuance as a mature and respected artist, Matt has been the focus of media attention. Media appearances have included Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz,” NPR’s “All Things Considered,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” the “Today” Show, ABC’s “20/20,” the Discovery Channel, BBC, Telemundo TV, and news shows and documentaries worldwide (including the U.S., Germany, France, Japan and the U.K.) The Wall Street Journal, JazzTimes, JAZZIZ, TIME, WIRED, Der Spiegel, The Jerusalem Report, People Magazine, TIME for Kids, American Way, The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, The Boston Globe, the New York Daily News, and others have featured Matt in print.
Having received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Berklee College of Music and his Master’s Degree from the Manhattan School of Music, Matt balances his professional music career with teaching. He teaches at Bunker Hill Community College as an adjunct faculty member, as well as Community Music Center of Boston, Note-worthy Experiences and Boston School of Music Arts. Matt gives masterclasses and workshops domestically and internationally (in English and Spanish) as well as private piano lessons.
Read more about Matt Savage:
From silence to sensation: Prodigy Matt Savage, born with autism, now a music veteran
– USA Today, June 17, 2018
Piano Prodigy Matt Savage on Piano Jazz – December 28, 2007