Matt Savage

{{about||another musician|Matt Savage (musician)|another person|Matt Savage (poker director)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Matt Savage

| image = Matt Savage standing.jpg

| image_size =

| landscape =

| alt =

| caption = Savage in 2021

| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist

| birth_name = Matthew James Savage

| alias =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1992|5|12}}

| birth_place = Sudbury, Massachusetts, U.S.

| origin =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| genre = {{flatlist|*Jazz

| occupation = Musician, composer, teacher

| instrument = Piano, keyboard

| years_active =

| label =

| associated_acts =

| website = {{URL|http://www.savagerecords.com/}}

}}

Matthew James "Matt" Savage (born May 12, 1992) is an American autistic savant musician.

Early life

Born in Sudbury, Massachusetts,Pine, Dan. [https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/jewishweekly?a=d&d=JW20050916.2.87&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-matt+savage-------1 "Autistic jazz prodigy already playing with greats"], The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, September 16, 2005. he is the son of Diane and Lawrence "Larry" Savage.Morrow, Marsha. https://web.archive.org/web/20060514114802/http://www.mledger.com/2004/archives/1_news_040804.shtml "N.H. geography champ"] Monadnock Ledger, 8 April 2004. (cached webpage)

Savage was a precocious infant who walked early and learned to read by the age of 18 months.Savants, Discovery Channel documentary, 2003. He was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder, a form of autism, at age three.Jones, Chad. [http://www.insidebayarea.com/bayarealiving/ci_3049622 "13-year-old Matt Savage has autism and a genius for jazz"], InsideBayArea.com, September 21, 2005. He did not like any noises or music during his early childhood.Silberman, Steve. [https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.12/genius.html "The Key to Genius"], Wired, December 2003, page 229.

At age six, Savage taught himself to read piano music.Massimo, Rick. [http://www.projo.com/music/content/projo_20051023_savage.31f5de3.html "N.H. pianist, 13, considers autism one of his strengths"], Providence Journal, October 23, 2005. He studied classical piano for less than a year before discovering jazz, which became his main focus.

He and his younger sibling were both home schooled. 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 Savage's talents are hyperlexia and perfect pitch.[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1142280 "Pianist Matt Savage"], All Things Considered, April 24, 2002. Coupled with his extremely high intelligence, these abilities have allowed him to achieve other distinctions as well, such as winning a statewide geography bee.

Career

He has no formal instruction in musical composition. Savage has released twelve albums as a solo performer, as leader of the Matt Savage Trio and as leader of various sized ensembles. By the age of 14, he had also performed with Chaka Khan and other popular singers.Genius: Quest for Extreme Brain Power, CNN program hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, September 17, 2006.

In 2006, at age 14, he was featured on a CNN report about the human brain which said he was a savant.

Education

{{Unsourced section|date=May 2025}}

In December 2012 Savage received a Bachelor of Music (B.Mus.) in Performance (Piano) from Berklee College of Music and in May 2015 he received his Master of Music (M.Mus.) in Jazz Performance (Piano) from the Manhattan School of Music.

See also

References

{{reflist}}