This 15-yr-old pianist/composer performs live in this "knock-your-socks-off" collection of original compositions ranging from Latin-fueled scorchers to radiant ballads to driving shuffle blues to funky grooves with hip-hop undertones.

12 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Traditional Jazz Combo, JAZZ: Latin Jazz

Show all album songs: Hot Ticket: Live in Boston Songs


Details:
In 2000, when Matt Savage was just 8 years old, he played piano for Dave Brubeck and jammed at a sound session with Chick Corea and his sidemen, Avishai Cohen and Jeff Ballard. The following year he was invited to a soundcheck to jam with jazz great McCoy Tyner and his sidemen, Avery Sharpe and Al Foster. In 2003, at the age of 11, Matt debuted at the famed Blue Note jazz club in Manhattan and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. The following year he debuted at NYâs Birdland jazz club, performing with the legendary Clark Terry on trumpet, Jimmy Heath on sax, Jon Faddis on trumpet, Marcus McLaurine on bass and Kenny Washington on drums. By 2005, Matt had performed twice with Chaka Khan. In February of 2007, Matt made his first appearance at the prestigious Dizzyâs Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

In September of 2007, the Matt Savage Trio performed for the first time at Tufts Universityâs prestigious Distler Hall at the Granoff Music Center. Accompanying Matt on his 9â2â Bösendorfer Concert Grand piano were sidemen Dave Robaire on bass and Joe Saylor on drums. During their two-concert gig, the group recorded a new live jazz album entitled HOT TICKET: Live in Boston. The album was produced by Grammy-nominated Jonathan Wyner and engineered by nine-time Grammy-winner Tom Bates. True to its name, âHOT TICKETâ features a number of new upbeat compositions written by Savage, including the Latin-fueled âMuy Caliente,â and the beautiful ballads âColorsâ and âSetting Sun.â Popular tracks revisited from earlier albums include âEl Fuegoâ (from their âChasing Your Tailâ CD) and the Caribbean-flavored âCuracao,â performed by the Trio in December of 2006 on âLate Night with Conan OâBrienâ (from their âQuantum Leapâ CD). Rounding out the playlist is a stunning performance of Miles Davisâ âSeven Steps to Heaven.â

Matt has continued to flourish in leaps and bounds as a composer and musician. States Savage, âEarly on, I played mostly bebop. Now I like to combine styles, building and diversifying with each song.â Matt enjoys using the full range of the keyboard, balancing Latin and Bossa Nova rhythms, upbeat grooves and radiant, melodic ballads. âEl Fuegoâ and âSeven Steps to Heavenâ find the Trio trading solos, building in dynamic intensity. âFatherâs Dayâ finds Matt in the midst of a driving shuffle blues. With the funky âBlack-Key Magic,â Matt explores a new playground of black keys versus white keys in a powerful jazz track with hip-hop undertones.

Major 2007 highlights included Mattâs stellar debut at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival and a September 2007 feature in American Airlinesâ American Way magazine (âIn the Company of Geniusâ). In November, Matt made two appearances on New England public radio stations: âEric in the Evening,â Eric Jacksonâs live jazz radio show on WGBH-FM in Boston, and WICN-FM in Central Massachusetts. The WICN broadcast presented Mattâs live solo piano concert at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts. A grand finale to 2007 featured Matt Savage on Marian McPartlandâs popular âPiano Jazzâ syndicated National Public Radio (NPR) series. The interview aired on December 28 and local NPR stations aired the program in the two weeks following initial feed date. A webcast of the interview can be heard at www.pianojazz.org.

âHOT TICKETâ follows the Matt Savage Trioâs acclaimed studio album, âQuantum Leap,â released in 2006. Produced by Diane Savage, âQuantum Leapâ was the Trio's fifth CD and their first album to receive worldwide distribution via a new deal with Palmetto Records (MRI/RED).

The album reached the top 25 on the Jazz Week charts and received airplay on Jazz stations throughout the country. âQuantum Leapâ continued to gain popularity when it was added to Borders Books & Music Listening Stations nationwide throughout January/February of 2007.

Jazziz magazine gave âQuantum Leapâ a superb review saying Mattâs âamazing technique shinesâ and JazzTimes described Savage sounding like a âschooled, seasoned jazz pianistâ who is âwell on his way to forging an effective personal language.â The All Music Guide also gave âQuantum Leapâ high marks, describing it as âabsolutely refreshing and engaging.â

âWhat I love about jazz,â says Matt, âis that you can break all the rules and be free.â Matt took that freedom to new heights on âQuantum Leap,â showcasing versatile techniques on such original compositions as âCuracao,â âBlues in 33/8â and âSerenity.â He also featured several standards on the album, including âAll the Things You Areâ (Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II), âMonkâs Dreamâ (Thelonious Monk) and âA Child is Bornâ (Thad Jones), all delivered in Savageâs unique interpretive style.

Prior to âQuantum Leap,â the Matt Savage Trio released âCutting Looseâ in 2004, which marked their first performance at Birdland. âCutting Looseâ was preceded by âChasing Your Tail,â âGroovinâ on Mount Everestâ and their 2001 debut album, âAll Jazzed Up.â

From the very beginning of Matt's music career, despite his young age, the jazz community embraced this amazing talent - who was quickly earning recognition as a certified supergenius. Matt Savage is one of fewer than 100 people known in the world as a âprodigious savant.â Dr. Darold A. Treffert, an internationally known researcher in the field of Savant Syndrome, coined the term prodigious savant to refer to savants whose skills would be considered spectacular even if they were possessed by someone not faced with a disability.

Matt has made an extraordinary emergence from his own disability, having been diagnosed at the age of 3 with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, a high-functioning type of autism. At that age, Matt could not communicate easily or withstand noises, not to mention music. His parents enrolled Matt in a special program for children with autism that involved patient training and a strict dietary and vitamin regime (the DAN Protocol). From age 3 to 7 Matt underwent speech therapy and occupational therapy. At age 6 1/2 he did a special auditory integration therapy to retrain his ears and make them less sensitive to sound. Matt was able to retune his sensory and social perceptions and his musical skills flourished at an accelerated pace. He taught himself to read piano music and immediately began studies in classical piano.

By the age of 7, Matt had switched to Jazz after discovering the music of Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Matt studied for 3 years at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and recorded his first solo album in 1999 in collaboration with the New England Conservatory, becoming the youngest child to perform at the NEPTA "Gifted and Talented" classical recitals in 2000. That same year, Matt performed for Dave Brubeck at WGME-TV in Portland, Maine. Brubeck prophetically said, âI was amazed at how talented he is. Amazing is the word I can tell you. He has such a musical mind that it isn't music that he has to learn. It seems like he's such an advanced musician in so many ways already at 8."

Matt's second solo album, "Live at the Olde Mill," was released in 2001, a year which proved pivotal in Matt's career as media recognition began to accelerate. Sparked by a live radio performance and interview on Boston's WERS 88.9 and an excellent review in The Boston Globe, Matt began selling out concerts.

That same year, The Matt Savage Trio released their live concert album, "All Jazzed Up," and radio stations across the country were broadcasting performances and interviews with Matt. He appeared on âLifetime Televisionâ and did an interview with Barbara Walters for ABCâs â20/20.â

The media momentum continued in 2002. In February, he received his first album review on the All About Jazz website and was heralded as "phenomenal." National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" aired a detailed piece about Matt that became one of the most listened-to programs of the year and won numerous broadcast journalism awards. The Matt Savage Trio performed at the famed New Orleans Jazz Festival, and Matt appeared on "The Today Show," "The View," "Montel" and âThe Discovery Channel.â

In May 2003, The Matt Savage Trio released their third album, "Chasing Your Tail," recorded live at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Matt was signed by Bösendorfer pianos, becoming the youngest person and only child in their now 180-year history to become a Bösendorfer artist. In November of 2003, The Trio made their debut at the Blue Note in New York, documented in a Time magazine article citing Matt as the youngest performer to have played the famed venue. Matt ended the year performing with more jazz greats at the Kennedy Center for NPR's live broadcast, âJazz Piano Christmas,â sharing the stage with The Bad Plus, Arturo OâFarrill, Jason Moran, Stefon Harris, Karrin Allyson and Lynne Arriale.

Awards for Matt's musical accomplishments have been many. Matt earned ASCAP's 2004/2005 "Young Jazz Composer" award for his composition, "The Wild Rose," from the Trio's CD, "Cutting Loose." He received the award at the ASCAP Jazz Wall Convention in New York, being honored along with living legends Neal Hefti, Shirley Horn and John "Bucky" Pizzarelli. In 2005/2006, he received a second âYoung Jazz Composerâ award from ASCAP for his composition, "Serenity,â from âQuantum Leap.â He not only received his award in New York at the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame, but performed the song for all the jazz legends in attendance. âHide and Seek,â another composition from âQuantum Leap,â has garnered Matt his third consecutive award from ASCAP as a 2006/2007 âYoung Jazz Composer.â

In 2006, Matt made a special appearance in April at MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, in conjunction with the premiere of the three-part documentary "Ellington by Keys" produced by award-winning filmmaker, Gary Keys. Several of the compositions performed by Matt were from original Duke Ellington manuscripts that had never before been published or performed. Matt's life journey was also documented in a 2006 worldwide broadcast of a film entitled "Beautiful Minds - A Voyage into the Brain," a three-part series produced by German ARD television. In April of 2007, American audiences had the opportunity to see this amazing film when Part II, âStruck by Genius,â featuring Matt, made its debut on the âNational Geographicâ Channel.

Matt Savage keeps good company with the music of the jazz greats, past and present. His enormous respect for their legendary bodies of work inspires and fuels his own unique jazz compositions and interpretations. As People Magazine astutely wrote in 2002, "...jazz phenom Matt Savage unlocks a door to genius using 88 keys." With the release of each album, Matt has challenged "genius" by exploring and expanding his creative boundaries. At the age of just 15, Matt continues to have vision and technique beyond his years as a composer and musician. The Boston Herald recently proclaimed, âJazz prodigy makes âLeapâ to maturity.â âQuantum Leapâ launched another chapter in Matt Savage's musical evolution. Now, with the release of âHOT TICKET,â fans can enjoy a host of familiar songs as well as many new compositions, all enhanced with the energy only a live album can deliver.