Do you realize there is no Thanksgiving jazz? The only Thanksgiving song I could even think of was “Over The River and Through the Woods” but I couldn’t find a jazz rendition. The closest I could come was “My Favorite Things” but what a find it was, holiday or not. None other than Joey Alexander, that kid prodigy from Indonesia, once again dazzles us with his piano prowess.
To have reached this level of technical proficiency and have such a sophisticated harmonic understanding at the tender age of 12 is nothing short of astonishing! I couldn’t decide which of these performances to share and the contrast between the two is most outstanding when heard side-by-side. So here are both … and Happy Thanksgiving. What is going on inside this young man’s head is enough to make many established jazz pianists blush!.
Joey Alexander performs the title track from his debut album “My Favorite Things” in studio, along with the intricate bass work of Larry Grenadier.
Joey plays jazz piano like old timer, but he’s only 11-years-old for this solo performance. They say he started playing at six … then “got serious” at seven.
