All of 19, Joey Alexander Is Poised To Move Beyond the Prodigy Stage

Joey Alexander Trio ‘Origin’ (Mack Avenue Records) I have no doubt that Joey Alexander is looking forward to his 20th birthday this June, because when that happens, it will no longer be correct for the rest of us to think of him as a tween or a teen prodigy. When he first emerged about eight years ago, he was the easiest kind of musician to listen to: Who doesn’t love a 12-year-old jazz or classical virtuoso? Even people who don’t know the first thing about jazz or couldn’t find Birdland on a map were clamoring to hear Joey Alexander. It was clear that this very young man was something extraordinary, a tiny boy from Indonesia who was playing with the technical skill level of a storied master at least three times his age.As Mr. Alexander evolved as a player, he went in a wholly opposite direction. If a wunderkind is the easiest musician to appreciate, the hardest is a working jazz pianist who plays mostly his own originals, especially if those originals are truly original, new melodies and harmonies that no one’s ever heard before, not just familiar variations on blues and standard changes. In short, Mr. Alexander went from being a “no-brainer” to, well, a brainer. There was a period when it seemed he was determined to make his listeners really work at understanding him, to make it clear to both us and him that he was determined not to coast on his boy wonder status.I’ve heard Mr. Alexander about 10 times since his 2015 breakthrough, at least three in the last year, and he truly gets better every time. His opening set at Birdland on Tuesday night was so strong that, after slipping down below to the theater for 90 minutes of Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, I crept back up the stairs to catch as much as I could of Mr. Alexander’s late show.At 19, Mr. Alexander is increasingly emerging as an outstanding voice as a player, a bandleader, and composer. His Birdland set consisted of music mostly from his two most recent releases, “Warna” (2020) and “Origin” (2022), the latter being his first album entirely of originals.Working with bassist Kris Funn and drummer John Davis, Mr. Alexander opened with “’Tis a Prayer,” a lovely piece that’s both evocative and invocative, the mood of which suggests saying Grace before a meal, or a chant as a kind of a prelude. It’s kind of surprising that “Prayer” is the second-to-last tune on “Warna,” as it really sounds like the beginning of something. He followed with “Mosaic (of Beauty),” in which, like everything else in his current set, the technical ability involved becomes strictly secondary — more important is the feeling of warmth he has learned how to instill in every tune, both as writer and performer. All of both sets were completely wrapped in a rapturous glow, whether the tunes were fast or slow, sad or happy, or, as usual, somewhere in between. “Angel Eyes” — and, yes, I wish he’d chosen a title that wasn’t already attached to a major jazz standard — boasts a romantic, tranquil melody that is propelled by insistent drumming (Mr. Davis at Birdland, Kendrick Scott on the “Origin” album). “Remembering” started very slow and quiet on Tuesday, but even as it grew louder, faster, and more intense, it displayed incredible heart. Everything he played was soulful and intellectual in equal parts.He interrupted the program of originals for a deeply moving reading of “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” incorporating chords from church music and a halting phrasing. He delineated Bonnie Raitt’s melody with an earnestness and simplicity that made it seem very vocal, almost as if it were being sung rather than played. This hasn’t been on any of Mr. Alexander’s six albums, but I surely hope it’s on the seventh.He wound up the early set with two more originals, “Bali” (from his 2017 “Eclipse”), in which he, the bass, and the drummer seemed to be playing three different sets of rhythmic patterns that coalesced more and more the longer that the piece went on. “Warna” (meaning “calm”) set up another exotic beat — it kept seeming like it was almost going to go into a clave groove. “Warna” also incorporated a drum solo that was treated organically, like a piece of the actual composition and not like the usual show-stopping, showboating drum solo. In fact, Mr. Alexander brilliantly set up Mr. Davis’s star turn here.The late set included two more exceptionally beautiful standards, “’Round Midnight” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” done as a duo with Mr. Funn. Yet no matter what he’s playing or who wrote it, he’s successfully avoided the trap that befalls many present and past prodigies in that he never places too much emphasis on sheer chops. There’s always plenty of soul. This is music that he — and all of us — can grow old with.

All of 19, Joey Alexander Is Poised To Move Beyond the Prodigy Stage

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