Matt Savage

In 2003, at the age of 11, Matt debuted at the famed Blue Note in Manhattan and was signed as a Bösendorfer Piano artist. The following year he debuted at Birdland, 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 2007, Matt made his first appearance at the prestigious Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center and appeared on Marian McPartland’s popular “Piano Jazz” syndicated National Public Radio (NPR) series. In 2008, when Matt was 15, he appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" as the musical act, released his newest CD, hit #11 on the JazzWeek radio charts, garnered the #2 position in LIVE JAZZ sales on Amazon.com (behind only Keith Jarrett) and signed an international sub-publishing deal with SONY/ATV.
Matt has performed professionally worldwide in ensembles of various size and in solo concerts since 2001. He is the leader of the Matt Savage Trio. Domestic venues have included Birdland, the Blue Note, The Kennedy Center, The Kravis Center, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Regattabar and the Jazz Bakery (among many others). Festival appearances have included the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, the VSA International Arts Festival, the Burlington [VT] Discover Jazz Festival and the Toronto Abilities Arts Festival. Performances have occurred in many countries, including all over the U.S. and Canada, Curacao, Aruba and Singapore (for the President of Singapore).
Matt Savage is just 17 years old and has already released eight albums. He has played with such jazz greats as Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, Jon Faddis, Marcus McLaurine, Kenny Washington, Marian McPartland, Bobby Watson, John Pizzarelli, Tom Pizzarelli, the Ellington All Stars and the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra. He’s performed with Chaka Khan, Max Weinberg and Ben Vereen and accompanied folk singer-songwriters Al Stewart and Shawn Colvin. Matt has opened for/double-billed with Wynton Marsalis, Danilo Perez, Dave Samuels, Alain Mallet, Alon Yavnai, D.D. Jackson, Seth Kaufman, John Payne and Charlie Adams.
Awards for Matt, both compositional and performance-based, have been many. Matt has received the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award every year since 2005 and topped the International Songwriting Competition each year since 2006. He garnered the award for Second Place in 2009. Matt was a recipient of the Dr. Margaret L. Bauman Award of Excellence in 2005 and the Council of Exceptional Children Award in 2008.
Matt has performed on numerous television shows, including “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” the “Late Show with David Letterman,”“20/20,” the “Today Show,”“MONTEL,” “The View”, CNN, the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel and more. He’s been the focus of documentaries worldwide (in the U.S., Germany, Japan, the U.K., etc.). His most notable radio appearances include NPR’s“Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland” and “All Things Considered.” He performed on NPR’s “Jazz Piano Christmas,” sharing the stage with The Bad Plus, Arturo O’Farrill, Jason Moran, Stefon Harris, Karrin Allyson and Lynne Arriale.
Articles about Matt have appeared in just about every major publication including Time Magazine, PEOPLE Magazine, Der Spiegel, the Wall Street Journal, JAZZIZ, JazzTimes, WIRED, American Way, The Boston Globe, The Globe and Mail (Canada), The Toronto Star, The Jerusalem Report, Afro American Syndicate, The New Paper (Singapore), The Global Voice (Taiwan), etc. Matt appeared on the cover of Time for Kids Magazine in its World Report Edition.
JAZZIZ Magazine touts Matt as “a wildly inventive composer, interpreter and pianist no matter what his age.” JazzTimes concurs, labeling Matt “...a schooled, seasoned jazz pianist...” Says Marian McPartland, “This young man plays with grace, energy and originality. Jazz savant indeed!” And a recent Wall Street Journal article labeled Matt “…a phenomenally talented pianist and composer who demands to be taken seriously on purely musical terms.”










