Born on the island of Bali in the city of Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia in 2003, Joey Alexander first encountered a piano at the age of six, and was immediately able to pick out the melody of Thelonious Monk's "Well, You Needn't" and other jazz standards from his father's record collection by ear. Despite no formal jazz education, Joey rose quickly in the Indonesian jazz scene and beyond. In 2013 he was featured at jazz festivals in both Jakarta and Copenhagen, and won the international improvisation contest in Odessa, Ukraine - besting over 200 adult contestants. In 2014, Joey performed at star-studded galas for Jazz At Lincoln Center at the Rose Room, The Jazz Foundation of America at the Apollo and the Arthur Ashe Foundation. The 12 year old Joey has signed with Motema records and is rapidly growing in demand on the international circuit.
(Grady Harp, Amazon.com, May 2015) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.