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| Pianist Joey Alexander |
As his story goes, pianist Joey
Alexander started teaching himself to play jazz at age six. At age 10, Alexander
caught the attention of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, and Marsalis hired him for a
few concerts as a guest soloist with the prestigious Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra. Alexander is 14 now. He’s cut three jazz albums “My Favorite
Things,” ”Countdown,” and the recently released “Joey. Monk. Live!”. Alexander has been featured on 60 Minutes and
in reputable music magazines such as Rolling Stone and JazzTimes. Besides the
media hype, Alexander has earned three Grammy nods, and he's currently busy touring the globe.
Alexander’s opening set Friday event at
the 2017-2018 Paradise Jazz Series at Detroit’s Orchestra Hall was more proof
the praise lavished on him in his very short career has been well-deserved. Alexander is what mystics the world over regard
as an old soul possessing a young person’s body. I’ve attended the Paradise
Jazz Series for 20 years now and never have I experienced a crowd roar like
they roared after Alexander’s solos.
The concert was a double-bill with
drummer/vocalist Jamison Ross opening for Alexander. Ross, best known as an A-list sideman for such jazz notables as
Johnathan Batiste, Carmen Lundy, and Christian McBride, stretched out on a
number of his originals and got the crowd oiled up for Alexander’s hour-plus rundown
of familiar standards and some of his original compositions. Alexander opened with Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence,” immediately
demonstrating an elder’s command of the piano and a deep improvisational wit.
Next Alexander and his bandmates,
drummer Ulysses Owens Jr., and bassist Dan Chmielinski cooked on a tricked-out version of “My Favorite Things.” The
depth of Alexander’s chops and imagination were fully exposed on his originals
“Peace,” and “Fourteen”. And when Alexander soloed on “Countdown,” he played
some of the solo standing on his tiptoes.
Alexander divvied up the spotlight
with Owns and Chmielinski. Both have more frequent flier miles as professional
jazz musicians than Alexander. They served up one marvelous solo after the next,
but at times Owns seemed to be dangerously close
to overpowering Alexander.
Alexander has
some areas of his game begging for improvement. He doesn’t seem comfortable
talking to an audience, but surely that will change
as he matures as a bandleader.
It’ll be interesting to see where Alexander will end up musically as an adult. The audience left his concert Friday evening knowing they’d witnessed a legit jazz musician although he isn't old
enough yet to have a driver’s permit.
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