The moment his hands touch the piano keys you can’t help but marvel at the musical gifts of Joey Alexander.
Joey is a jazz pianist unlike any other. At 12 years of age, he played at the Newport Jazz Festival and became the youngest ever Grammy nominee in a jazz category for his debut album,My Favorite Things. Legendary jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis calls Joey “my hero.”
In September, Joey will be back at Irvine Barclay Theatre, having appeared there three years ago at the age of 13.
Joey grew up on the small island of Bali, Indonesia. His father, an amateur musician, bought him a mini electric keyboard when he was six. Joey remembers listening to his father’s jazz records and drawing inspiration from the likes of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker. Before long, he was teaching himself to play, following Thelonious Monk’s “Well, You Needn’t” and jamming with seasoned musicians across Indonesia.
In 2014, Wynton Marsalis saw a video (which had gone viral) of Joey and invited him to perform at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. Joey received a standing ovation—he was 10 years old.
“If there’s no swing—it’s not jazz,” Joey likes to say.
In one musical phrase after another, a multitude of wondrous jazz grooves display the harmonic and rhythmic creativity of his playing. His introspective improvisational style belies his young age.
Yet with three Grammy nominations and three studio albums to his credit, Joey remains humble.Preferring not to be called a musical prodigy, he thinks of himself simply as a jazz musician…someone who just wants to make people happy with his music. “It’s a gift from God,” he says. It’s music from the heart.