For Matt Savage, this album was a big test. The 15-year-old jazz piano phenom, who has overcome the barriers of autism to become a renowned child musician, told the Daily last fall that he was ready to move beyond prodigy status.
He framed his back-to-back performances at Tufts University in September as an audition for admittance into the true kingdom of jazz.
"First, you're the kid prodigy," he told the Daily before the shows, which he recorded for his newly released album, "Hot Ticket: Live in Boston." "Then you're the up-and-coming pianist. And some go as far as being a jazz great. It's all about [the fact that] you have to continue. You can't stop anywhere ... Well, I'm 15 now, but I'm going to pretend I'm 25."
So, did he pass the test? Is he more than a child prodigy? Is he on his way to becoming a jazz great? Well, not yet.
Savage has always advanced staggeringly quickly and his proficiency in the face of autism is inspiring. But the question still lingers after "Hot Ticket" - when will he make the jump from auspicious cusp-sitter to bona fide professional?
He has better control over his technique than on past efforts. Savage no longer loses his rhythm in an overanxious roll or a misplaced, syncopated lick. And the less halting, smoother playing makes for a more professional sound. But the album smacks of a disappointing conservatism; he doesn't swing hard, he takes far too few melodic risks and the harmonic structures he employs are almost a regression from those of his last album, "Quantum Leap" (2006).
He plays more conservatively on "Hot Ticket," perhaps because of the daunting prospect of recording a live show for a relatively highly anticipated album. ("Quantum Leap" vaulted to the Top 25 on the jazz charts, and the "Hot Ticket" press kit quoted Jimmy Heath christening Savage as "the future of jazz." It looks like his PR people expect the budding star to do even better with the new release.)
But while it detracts from his playing in many ways, his newfound steadiness makes "Hot Ticket" a bit of a smoother ride than "Quantum Leap," and when Savage does start to light up late in the album, it proves more exciting than anything on his previous records.
On the Miles Davis classic "Seven Steps to Heaven," the album's only track that Savage didn't pen himself, he whirls off to a breakneck start with his solo in the middle register. He keeps it up, zigzagging his way up the keyboard and then diving back down. Savage's solo wiggles and spins on this manic ride and he injects chords that are more syncopated and harmonically imaginative than any he has played yet on this record. The hottest swing tune on this album, "Seven Steps to Heaven" does pick up where "Quantum Leap" left off, as Savage struts his greater adroitness on the keys with flowing cascades and masterfully sharp runs.
But most of "Hot Ticket's" numbers are Latin tunes or ballads, and on these Savage rarely finds his groove. For instance, the opening track is "Muy Caliente," a Latin song. The head is catchy, alternating between a punctuated block-chord pattern and a drifting, single-note interlude. However, Savage doesn't let go enough, sticking faithfully within the scales and staying right on top of the beat. The listener can't help but feel a bit like he or she is hearing a piano recital rather than a jazz concert.
The album's third track, "Setting Sun," is a case study in the problems with Savage's balladry. The slow piece is more reminiscent of a film's mediocre soundtrack than of the "Ruby, My Dear" that it strives to be.
It is hard to hold anything against this kid as a performer, for he offers uncannily timed humor in his high, boyish voice after most of the album's 12 songs.
"When I wrote this next song, I thought it was horrible," he says between tunes. "I thought it was so awful that I decided to put it in the title; this next song here is called, 'An Awful Song' - and in parentheses - 'That You'll Really Hate.'"
Recognizing how far Savage has come already, we still have reason to hold out hope that he will get over that hump and achieve remarkable expertise on the adult level.
But on "Hot Ticket," we see that the home-schooled boy genius with an affinity for math will need to quit playing by the book and fitting things perfectly into their rhythmic locations. After all, the quirks that we saw on "Quantum Leap's" best track, the syncopated and halting "Give Me a Break," simply outmatch the rigidity and harmonic tedium of the latest album.
