13-year-old Matt Savage has autism and a genius for jazz

Oakland Tribune, Sep 21, 2005 by Chad Jones, STAFF WRITER

HE LOOKS LIKE Harry Potter. He plays jazz piano like Thelonious Monk. And his brain is like a supercomputer spinning a whole lot faster than yours is right now.

Matt Savage is, in short, a wonder, and he's just 13 years old.

An acclaimed jazz pianist and composer, Matt was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder, a high-functioning form of autism, when he was 3 years old.

Now he's touring the world playing for adoring audiences and astonished musicians. Bay Area audiences can see Matt at next week's "Ever Widening Circle: An Evening of Entertainment Celebrating Art and Disability," the annual fundraiser for Oakland's World Institute on Disability and Berkeley's Corporation on Disabilities and Telecommunication.

Before Matt was diagnosed with an autistic disorder, his mom, Diane Savage, remembers playing the piano for him.

"At about 15 months, I'd play 'Linus and Lucy' and the third movement of the 'Moonlight Sonata,'" Diane recalls on the phone from her New Hampshire home. "He knew the word fast, so he'd say, 'Fast!' I'd play fast and he'd giggle."

Then Matt began to lose his tolerance for music.

"We couldn't even sing 'Happy Birthday' or have the TV on," Diane says. "It was too much sensory overload for him. He went through a really difficult stage, was better for a while, then regressed again."

Uncommonly bright, Matt was reading by 18 months, organizing his blocks alphabetically and counting his Cheerios. He was also hyperactive and had difficulty socializing with other children.

After receiving the autism diagnosis at Children's Hospital in Boston, Diane and her husband Larry began researching the disorder and seeking therapy for their son.

Enrolled in Boston public schools, and after some rough patches, Matt began responding to his teachers and focusing his considerable energies.

Dr. Renee Wachtel, the director of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland, has been working with children who have autism for more than 30 years. She reports that in 1975, research showed autism occurring in three or four per

10,000 people. Now it is one in 166.

"The reason for the increase is a huge question," Wachtel says. "There are a lot of studies going on, some right here in the East Bay and one at UC Davis. We should be hearing some results from these studies in three or four years."

As research into autism as a neuro-developmental, biologic disorder has increased, Wachtel

says treatment has become much more successful.

"Our program provides really intensive behavioral therapy along with developmental, speech and sensory therapy," Wachtel says. "I've seen children do very well with intensive therapy. Not all. Many continue to have a certain level of disability. But we have much better outcomes than we used to."

As part of his therapy in Boston, Matt Savage received audio integration therapy at ages 4 and 61/2, and after the second round, music returned to his life.

"Our house had been very quiet -- no TV or anything," Diane says. "Then all of a sudden we hear this toy piano playing 'London Bridge.' My husband and I looked at each other. Matt was playing the song from a little songbook, and he proceeded to play all the other songs out of the book."

Matt began studying piano, and after about a year, he and his family were at a craft fair in Maine where there was a jazz band setting up on stage.

"I had hold of Matt's hand, but he's quick and wiry," Diane says. "Next thing I know he's up on stage at the piano. People freaked out, but then he started to play and everyone was stunned. One of the musicians suggested improvising some blues. Matt asked what key. The saxophone player said,'B flat.' Matt said, 'Major or minor?' Everybody cracked up."

While his mother is telling the story, Matt comes into the room and says he's ready to be interviewed. When he takes the phone, he breaks the ice by telling the guy on the other end of the phone how much he likes his shirt.

Asked how he got into jazz, Matt says, "When I was younger I used to like numbers and stuff. I liked songs based on how long they were and liked the longer ones best. The first jazz album we got was Miles Davis' 'Kind of Blue,' and the average song length was nine minutes. That's how I started in jazz."

Giggly and well spoken, Matt says he likes a lot of music -- classical and rock 'n' roll included -- but his heart is in jazz.

"It's the coolest music," he says.

Matt's intensive piano lessons began with classical but quickly gave way to jazz. He wrote his first song around age 7 and recorded his first CD of original compositions, "Groovin' on Mount Everest," at age 9.

His third CD, "Cutting Loose," came out last year, and features Matt alongside Matt Savage Trio players John Funkhouser on bass and Steve Silverstein on drums. Bay Area audiences will see the trio at next week's concert, and Matt promises to perform originals as well as a few standards like "'Round Midnight."

"There's another one I want to do, but it's a surprise," Matt says. "I'm excited to come to San Francisco because I want to see the Golden Gate Bridge. And I know they're building a new Bay Bridge. I'm wondering how safe it's going to be."