Matt Savage - Piano Voyages No. 12 (2016)

For those who have not had the pleasure, Matt Savage, born in 1992, is a most remarkably gifted pianist and composer. He was a precocious infant who walked early and learned to read by age 18 months. He was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder, a form of autism, at age three. Matt did not like any noises or music during his early childhood. At age six, Matt taught himself to read piano music. He studied classical piano for less than a year before discovering jazz, which became his main focus. He began studying at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in the fall of 1999. He continued his classical studies as well. Among Matt's talents are hyperlexia and perfect pitch. Coupled with his extremely high intelligence, these abilities have allowed him to achieve other distinctions as well, such as winning a statewide geography bee. Despite his young age and his autism, and even without formal instruction in musical composition, Matt is an accomplished musician and composer. He has released several albums, both as a solo performer and as part of the Matt Savage Trio. By the age of 14, he had also performed with Chaka Khan and other popular singers. Matt's compositions tend toward the technical, but they are still very approachable and often humorous. ~Grady Harp