Boy Wonder

A A A Comments By Jef Otte Thursday, Jan 6 2011

Matt Savage is reluctant to talk about how he became a piano prodigy shortly after picking the instrument up at the tender age of six, how he started composing a year later, how he was good enough to jam with legendary pianist Chick Corea a year after that. He’s proud of those things, but they’re “all behind me,” the eighteen-year-old pianist says. And that’s understandable: As a young player, Savage runs the risk of being labeled a novelty — particularly considering he’s an autistic savant. Nevertheless, his playing is far more soulful than that term would perhaps imply. He’s got a gift and an inclination toward technicality, yes, but he’s also approachable, and his compositions tend to come off as standards with a flair for the avant-garde rather than the other way around. His “Blues in 33/8,” for example, subverts the twelve-bar blues by deconstructing the common run in an unusual time signature while still managing to sound like the old, familiar blues.

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“I like to make my ideas clear,” he says. “When you’re having a melodic idea and a really out-there idea, you have to know when to play each one.” Fresh off his ninth and latest album, Welcome Home, Savage stops in Denver tonight for a show with his original trio — guys he’s been playing with since he was eight — at Augustana Lutheran Church, 5000 East Alameda Avenue, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25. For more information, call 388-4962 or visit www.augustanaarts.org.
Sat., Jan. 8, 7:30 p.m., 2011

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