When he was setting the Parisian music world abuzz with his precocious piano playing in the 1840s, the young Camille Saint-Saens was taken to play for the great Hector Berlioz. Saint-Saens, with an aplomb beyond his years, dashed off a dazzling keyboard display. "All he lacks," announced Berlioz, "is inexperience."
Aficionados had much the same reaction to two sophisticated young pianists who made New York City debuts last week. One was jazzman Matt Savage, who led his trio through a swinging, bop-tinged evening at Manhattan's Blue Note. His sets ranged from the standard My Favorite Things to originals like Groovin'...