By THIRSTY
Jazz Musician Joey Alexander turns
15 in June of 2018. A native of Bali, his 2015 debut album, My Favorite Things, garnered two Grammy
Award nominations for “Best Jazz Instrumental Album” and “Best Improvised Solo”
for his performance of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” when he was only twelve
years old. He is the youngest jazz artist ever nominated for a Grammy. And, his
performance on the 58th Annual Grammy Awards broadcast in 2016 received a standing
ovation.
At nine, Joey won the Grand Prize
at the first Master-Jam Fest, an all-ages competition in Ukraine, which
included 200 competitors from 17 countries, and at ten, he performed at jazz
festivals in Jakarta and Copenhagen. Wynton Marsalis invited him to his U.S.
debut appearance at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall in 2014 that was
followed by appearances before the Jazz Foundation of America at the Apollo and
the Arthur Ashe Learning Center at Gotham Hall.
He has performed at the Newport Jazz
Festival and around the world, from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi, from Singapore to
Vienna and in his native Indonesia. His fourth album, Eclipse, was released this May of 2018.
Stay
Thirsty Magazine was happy to visit with Joey Alexander (a man of few
words) for these Five Questions while he was preparing for his summer tour. One
stop will be the Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival in June at the Saratoga
Performing Arts Center. But, to truly understand the extraordinary talents of
this young man, we present two videos from his latest album.
STAY THIRSTY: When did you first
start playing jazz?
JOEY ALEXANDER: I was seven years old.
STAY THIRSTY: Did you learn jazz
from someone or did you pick it up from listening to recordings by great jazz
musicians?
JOEY ALEXANDER: I learnt from listening to musicians and
playing with musicians.
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| Joey Alexander |
STAY THIRSTY: Do you think about
the music you are going to play or does it just come to you?
JOEY ALEXANDER: I always think musically, but when I play, I
sing more of what
I'm going to play, at the same time, reacting to the sound around me.
STAY THIRSTY: Do you hear music
everywhere in the sounds of everyday life?
JOEY ALEXANDER: Music is sound and so it's everywhere, but I don't imagine music all the
time.
STAY THIRSTY: How do you feel when
people are happy hearing your music?
JOEY ALEXANDER: Thankful.
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