At Work: Piano Prodigy Joey Alexander
At 13 years old, Joey Alexander has already released two jazz albums, toured major festivals around the world, met his musical idols, played at the White House, joined Wynton Marsalis for a performance, hosted a residency at Jazz at Lincoln Center and received two Grammy nominations.
“I don’t think I’m that busy—as a musician, I’m having a normal life,” the pianist says from his hotel room before a gig at California’s Mondavi Center with the Joey Alexander Trio (while adding that he does his schoolwork online). “We tour and we play and we fly. As musicians, we do that to play for the people—it’s normal to us.”
The Indonesian wunderkind started teaching himself to play piano at 6 with a mini electronic keyboard at home, learning Thelonious Monk songs by ear, and then began performing for audiences when he was 8 years old.
“There was one guy who would call me to play jam sessions with him,” Alexander says, mentioning that he grew up on the music of his home country of Bali as well as other forms of jazz. “Sometimes, my family and I would tour around with [mentor Indra Lesmana, a popular Indonesian jazz pianist] playing, and that’s how I learned the music.”
He also learned the fundamentals from his father, who “taught me some piano and basic chords and loves music,” Alexander says, adding that they listened to a lot of definitive jazz records together. “I love classical and gospel and a lot of musicians, not just jazz—Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Debussy. I love James Brown. I listen to all of that.”
Alexander and his parents now live in New York City but, he says, “I still feel that Indonesia is my home because I have family there, too.” When he’s not touring, he enjoys more traditional 13-year-old activities like watching movies, swimming, playing games, playing with action figures, and, of course, practicing piano.
For his latest release, the nine-track Countdown (Motema), Alexander offers impressive original compositions as well as fresh takes on several covers. “The best part of it was making music with great musicians. I’m so thankful to them, and that’s a fun thing for me—just making the music— and every song is my favorite,” he says of the recording process.
“I was grateful to God that I had a positive response on my first album [2015’s My Favorite Things]. For me, I want people to feel the joy of this music and I want to be a good force for the people. That’s the most important thing to me as a musician, and to always have fun,” Alexander says. “Every moment is special to me; every place and venue I go, I always have fun every time; and every person I get to meet is interesting and I learn a lot about music.”