Joey Alexander is the current cause célèbre of the jazz world, and unsurprisingly so. The 12-year-old Balinese piano prodigy, who was recently featured on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” is blessed with a level of technical facility and improvisational imagination that many serious musicians go whole careers without attaining. Lucky local music lovers will have their chance to catch this rising young genius before he even hits puberty, when the wunderkind and his trio play the Woodstock Playhouse on January 30.
Alexander has just received two Grammy nominations for his debut, My Favorite Things (Motema Records). He taught himself to play piano by listening with his father, an amateur musician, to classic jazz albums. Faced with a lack of jazz education in Bali, Alexander began attending jam sessions with senior musicians. From there, his musical intuition flourished, as did his love of playing jazz. UNESCO invited him to play solo piano in honor of his jazz idol Herbie Hancock, who provides enthusiastic support to the young savant’s budding career.
See for yourself. Here’s the kid in action, performing the album’s famous title composition:
The Joey Alexander Trio will perform at the Woodstock Playhouse in Woodstock, New York, on January 30 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $35. For more information, call (845) 802-0029 or visit www.jazzstock.com.
