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| Joey Alexander - 12 years old Indonesian jazz master @Grammys - The Rise of Indonesian Jazz  Joey Alexander, Motéma Music recording artist, will be performing at the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards this upcoming Monday, February 15th! He will perform at both the GRAMMY Premiere Ceremony which begins at 3:30 pm EST on GRAMMY.com/live and the main GRAMMY telecast on CBS which begins at 8 pm EST. Congratulating this wonderful 12 years old artist originally from Indonesia, and now based in the Jazz capital of the world New York City, and tune in to watch his performances on Monday! Joey's debut album My Favorite Things is nominated in the categories of Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo (for his solo on "Giant Steps").If he wins, Joey will be the youngest Grammy recipient ever. Joey Alexander's debut album My Favorite Things is quickly rising to the top of the charts! Joey jumped to #1 on the overall Amazon Best Sellers chart (surpassing Adele) and#4 on iTunes Top Albums chart! My Favorite Things is featured on iTunes' Best of 2015 Jazz Albums list. "If the word 'genius' still means anything, it applies to this prodigy. He played his own solo variations on 'Round Midnight' with a breathtaking precocity and mastery of several decades of piano style." – Allen Morrison, DownBeat Magazine For Winton Marsalis, Joey's genius remains a mystery. "Why? We don't know why, " he tells Anderson Cooper on CBS' 60 Minutes. "I once asked Miles Davis about sound. 'Man, how you get the sound you get?' He said, 'Man, nobody knows about sound. Sound just is.' And I think that about his abilities." "Mozart is the archetype of the child musical genius. Over the centuries, many successors have been proclaimed. [Joey Alexander] In the long run, few have qualified. The current child-genius nominee is Joey Alexander, a pianist from the Indian Ocean Island of Bali." – Doug Ramsey, Arts Journal "Technically fluent and harmonically astute" – The New York Times "Magnificent not only for the child's virtuosity – plenty of prodigies have outsized chops – but for the maturity and perception he brought" – Jazz Time Born on the island of Bali in the city of Denpasar in 2003, Joey Alexander first encountered a piano at the age of six, and was immediately able to pick out the melody of Thelonious Monk's "Well, You Needn't" and other jazz standards from his father's record collection by ear. His father, an amateur musician, nurtured Joey's gift for swing and improvisation by introducing him to classic jazz recordings and taking him to jam sessions with seasoned musicians in Bali and Jakarta. From there, his musical intuition flourished, as did his love of playing jazz. Learning by listening, Joey's early influences include Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans and John Coltrane, and he has a special affinity for trumpet players including Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis. Despite his lack of formal jazz training, Joey developed an authoritative technique, and with his depth of musicality he quickly rose in the Indonesian jazz scene and beyond. At age 8, UNESCO invited Joey to play solo piano in front of jazz icon Herbie Hancock during his visit to Indonesia. Joey drew significant inspiration from Herbie's enthusiastic response to his playing. At age 10, Joey was featured at jazz festivals in both Jakarta and Copenhagen, and he won the international improvisation contest in Odessa, Ukraine – besting over 200 jazz professionals from 17 countries. In 2014, Joey performed at star-studded galas in New York City for Jazz at Lincoln Center in Rose Hall, the Jazz Foundation of America at the Apollo and the Arthur Ashe Learning Center at Gotham Hall. On May 12, 2015, Joey Alexander released his highly anticipated debut album 'My Favorite Things' on the Grammy-winning Harlem-based label Motema Music. On his debut recording, Alexander performs classic tunes from Coltrane to Rodgers & Hammerstein with a deft touch, adventurous spirit and improvisatory verve. 'My Favorite Things' was produced by Grammy-winning producer Jason Olaine. Accompanying Joey on the album are bassist Larry Grenadier and 2-time Grammy-winning drummer Ulysses Owens, as well as three talented young players from the New York scene, Russell Hall (bass), Sammy Miller (drums) and Alphonso Horne (trumpet). Alexander's imagination, sophisticated arrangements and dazzling playing make 'My Favorite Things' a soulful and joyful musical adventure. It is also a statement of intent, a compelling introduction to a budding young leader, performer and composer, who plays with power and elation. From his impressionistic introduction to "Giant Steps" to the spirited interplay with his band mates on "It Might As Well Be Spring, " to his remarkable rendition of "Over the Rainbow, " Joey proves himself a true and distinctive jazz professional. Joey has already been invited to perform at venues including the Rochester Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center and a TED conference. The sky appears to be the limit for this soulful young artist. Note: Joey Alexander performed first two solo concerts in the USA at Brooklyn's venue ShapeShifter Lab on May 4, 2014 and at Paul Robeson Center For Arts in Princeton NJ on May 7, 2014. - two concert promoted by MoonJune's Leonardo Pavkovic. write your comments about the article :: © 2016 Jazz News :: home page |