12-year-old jazz prodigy Joey Alexander

[waltky]

This kid is phenomenal...

Watch 12-year-old jazz prodigy Joey Alexander
2016 Jan 03 - Like what you heard from Joey Alexander on 60 Minutes? Hear him play two versions of his composition "Ma Blues," and part of his unreleased new song "Sunday Waltz"

When jazz great Wynton Marsalis first heard Joey Alexander play the piano, he was blown away. "I've never heard anyone who could play like him," he tells Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes this week. Even more stunning is the fact that Joey is only 12 years old and from Bali, a tiny Indonesian island that's not exactly known for its jazz scene. In the Overtime video above, viewers can see why Marsalis was so excited. Joey wrote "Ma Blues," the song he is playing, at age 10 -- and performed it at the Newport Jazz Festival this past summer when he was 12. He was the youngest person ever invited to play on that stage. "Is he good for a 12-year-old? Or is he just good?" Cooper asks Gary Walker, music director at jazz radio station WBGO.

"He's just good," Walker says. "At any age, his language is pretty special. But at the age of 12, you almost think, you know, I might even believe in reincarnation, perhaps." If Joey calls to mind jazz legends of the past, he's already developed his own style, and at his young age, can improvise like a seasoned veteran. In the video below, he plays "Ma Blues" again, this time at an apartment in Manhattan. It's the same song, but without accompaniment and with new improvisations, giving it an entirely different feel. Nobody knows how Joey Alexander got to be so good. His parents say he was a hyperactive little kid, so when he was six, they brought home a keyboard to try to channel his restless energy. He mainly learned to play by listening to his dad's recordings of Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk.

Joey's father says his son was drawn to jazz because it is less formal than classical music --- jazz improvisation offered Joey the freedom to express himself musically. When videos of Joey playing in Indonesia went viral, Wynton Marsalis, who is Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, took note and invited Joey to play at their annual gala in New York. Much to Joey's surprise, he got a standing ovation, and the family soon moved to the U.S. So what's next for the boy from Bali? Joey was nominated for two Grammy Awards this year for his first album "My Favorite Things." In the clip below, he shares a portion of a tune he wrote called "Sunday Waltz," which he is recording for his second album, due out in 2016 from his label, Motéma Music.

For Marsalis, Joey's genius remains a mystery. "Why? We don't know why," he tells Anderson Cooper. "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. They are."

Watch 12-year-old jazz prodigy Joey Alexander

 

[longknife]

I'm sorry to disagree but, as the kid of someone who played jazz professionally for many decades, the kid isn't even so-so. He has no left hand and his right barely gets by. Chording is great for church but not jazz.

 

[Snouter]

Sargent Diaz since when do you know anything about music! The kid is good in a Deliverence kind of way. Curious if he can do any improvisation instead of the circus act.

 

[longknife]

Sargent Diaz since when do you know anything about music! The kid is good in a Deliverence kind of way. Curious if he can do any improvisation instead of the circus act.[/QUOTE

I know one hell of a lot about music!

My father was a musician of a professional quality and ensured I knew and understood all forms of music up to and including the 40's and 50s. The Hollywood Bowl. Frequent visits to the LA symphony. Cafes with live entertainment and my favorite - piano bars. I learned to read sheet music and was a member of my church choir - first tenor.

I've been to light opera in Europe and became an aficionado of Chamber Music - especially the rare forms by Mozart for ten instruments. I visited jazz clubs in Europe where Dixieland was almost as good as anything out of Louisianan and Mississippi.
I've savored Big Band and jazz, especially trios and some like Brubeck with an added reed instrument.

I've spent hours hanging out in Bluegrass bars in Virginia and Maryland. They are a true form of pure American Music.

I find good Country and Western from the 80s and earlier fun to listen to.

I've even played a stand up bass in a jazz trio.

Now, would you care to compare your expertise?

 

[waltky]

Considering he's only 12...

... he has plenty of time to hone his talent.

Will be interesting to see him at 21...

... I would say he has a good start.

The idea with young musicians is to encourage them...

... not tear them down.

Wonder how many other 12 yr. old jazz players there are...

...playing at his level? Not many I would think.

Would be interesting to hear him pair up with Stanley Jordan.

 

[longknife]

Considering he's only 12...

... he has plenty of time to hone his talent.

Will be interesting to see him at 21...

... I would say he has a good start.

The idea with young musicians is to encourage them...

... not tear them down.

Wonder how many other 12 yr. old jazz players there are...

...playing at his level? Not many I would think.

Would be interesting to hear him pair up with Stanley Jordan.

I wasn't trying to "tear him down." That he plays the piano that well is a start. If he continues to practice and studies and learns there is far more to music than just one genre he will be outstanding.