don't shit yourself. listening to this kid is surreal.
Posted Jan 12, 2016, 4:47 AM UTC
16075
I really love his album actually, here's one with drums
15
He's got those knowing head-shakes of someone rapidly processing the crazy jazz progressions. Gave me chills seeing that recognition in a kid his age.
2
I'm new to jazz, could you explain what this style of jazz is called? I love the bass chords so much and want to learn more
1
It's called Prodigy Jazz !
Just kidding, I think it's just fast-paced jazz, check out others that I like: Chick Corea, Hiromi Uehara, Herbie Hancock
3
Drums and a sweet ass bass.
1
The best thing about young players like this is that there is a chance they will help get others into jazz. We need more listeners and appreciators of jazz.
13
Holy shit.
7
I've transcribed a bit of his Giant Steps solo; the theory is ridiculous.
7
Care to share?
7
I would! However, the files are on a hard drive 200 miles away. This is what I get for not syncing my Scores folder for Sibelius to Dropbox.
2
Did you find it by any chance?
1
I did not, but once I get home this weekend I'm going to post what I have! Thanks for checking up.
1
update please!
1
Hey everyone! So I was home and indeed found my laptop, but I have no way of getting that hard drive out; my mom's toolset didn't have the right screwdriver. Still working on it!
1
Thanks mate
1
What are some things specifically or in general that you've noticed in his solos? I haven't delved much into Joey's playing too much, but I hear a lot of Hancock/Chick influence.
1
Exactly that, not so much "bebop" but a more contemporary Herbie or Chick Corea. But I hear someone who really understands music theory/jazz theory and can apply it without really thinking much about it. His voicing choices are interesting as well.
1
That really just pisses me off.
I'm almost 42 years old, and struggling to understand jazz.
Nothing is in me the way jazz is in this kid.
I'm genuinely angry right now.
7
How many hours do you practice a week?
3
Not nearly enough -- usually about an hour a day, sometimes two -- but without an instructor I'm just treading water.
I've been trying to get a guy to teach me for two years, but he evidently doesn't have time for me.
1
Well, there's your problem.
5
Yeah, I know.
My plan, though, is to win the Powerball so can quit working, move to a city that has jazz piano instructors in it, and then I can put 100% of my mental energy into practicing piano.
3
How much are you listening to jazz? I don't mean like it's playing in the background while you go about doing chores or something. I mean really really listen and break down what you hear in order to understand it. That, to me at least, seems more important than just practicing.
1
Again, not as much as I should.
While I'm listening, I get it, but when I'm playing, I forget everything I heard and learned.
1
If you're forgetting then you aren't listening closely enough. Which sounds lame as hell as far as being called out goes but hear me out.
I would sit down with a program like transcribe and pull a few lines/solos off records you like. Yeah, it will be hard as fuck but even if you can only play it at like 1/10th of the speed you will start figuring out how the lines were developed and the theory behind it. Do you need to go through and name all the chords? No. Just start pulling some of it apart and figure out what makes it tick.
There isn't a single time I've done this that I didn't walk away with a MUCH better understanding of harmony or melody that I didn't have when I started.
1
Or learn music theory from the bottom up rather than trying to reinvent it.
1
Heard about this kid on NPR. Just awesome!
5
credibly talented kids playing on YouTube, but a lot of them have just learnt the patterns, locked in the muscle memory, this kid really understands what he's doing, and that's rare as hell
Do you have a link to the report? NRP usually have everything online
1
Wow. MFW he's playing incredibly good jazz! I was expecting some mechanically played Mozart or some crazy Chopin etude, but this is way better. Never seen anything like it at such an age. Everything I find of him on youtube is awesome.
3
Joey Alexander is the real deal. In an interview he talks about how he learned- by listening to all of the great jazz artists and letting their influence guide him. It's the best method of learning jazz ever, and he was born with something special so that he could do what so many try to do. This kid is going to be amazing. I believe he is currently being mentored by Wynton Marsalis in NYC at the Jazz at Lincoln Center institute.
3
His Giant Steps. Goddamn.
3
He plays with a level of sophistication that is usually cultivated over years by most. He's also nominated for 2 Grammys for Best Improvised Jazz Solo and Best Jazz Instrumental Album.
And I was arguing with my parents on how long I should practice at 11.
3
nice recording too
2
damn... that just genuinely sounds really good.
2
It's about time we got another Art Tatum
2
wow his hands are gigantic
2
Right? I feel like I'm the only one cursed with small hands...
1
too many people who play jazz have a dead left hand. This kid knows what's up.
2
That drives me absolutely bonkers sometimes, especially when someone plays solo.
2
Simply mind-boggling.
1
How the hell is this possible? Wow.
1
The version of this song by Dave Brubeck is my favorite song and this absolutely blew me away and brought a tear to my eye! This is amazing!
1
I want to be able to play like him. How do I start?
I consider myself professionally trained classical. I can sight read almost everything. But I just can't play Jazz or remember chord progressions.
1
You see a lot of incredibly talented kids playing on YouTube, but a lot of them have just learnt the patterns, locked in the muscle memory, this kid really understands what he's doing, and that's rare as hell
How can you tell the difference, without watching the same piece performed different time?
There are people in other videos that worked with him in a studio setting that discussed it.
curious about this too
Experience and careful listening
to me it sounds the same as any jazz pianist in a jazz bar
Because he's improvising (also known as spontaneous composition) and interacting with his bandmate in real time, which takes quite a lot of musical understanding in the jazz idiom.
How do you know that, without knowing that he has performed this differently on other occasions and that this particular performance hasn't been rehearsed this way?
Because I've been been listening to jazz for the past 12 years and playing it professionally for the past five or so. I have been playing long enough to have a sense for when something is being "jammed" over and when something has been rehearsed more. While it is technically possible that he and his bandmates have rigorously rehearsed every single note of this arrangement, Joey has enough recorded performances of the same tune ([Giant Steps 1] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MA9r9V_Nzs) and [Giant Steps 2] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4V_uaxBVOw)) and with enough different musicians to show that he has the ability to arrange the tunes differently.
If you want to talk in a deeper sense, it's true that all jazz musicians (myself included) have quite a lot of music committed to muscle memory and we have lots of patterns memorized. However, the arrangement and variation of these patterns shows that we understand music enough to change how we play something every time.
In short: I've seen Joey play enough on the same tune and over different tunes to know that he has the knowledge to rearrange and reharmonize as he wishes. His solos are never the exact same, so to me, that shows great musical understanding that many prodigies lack. If I only ever saw this one video, I could see your point, but there's a lot of material out there besides this one performance.
You can tell by the way he bobs his head and from the sound of his dynamics that he really 'feels' what he's playing and not just going through motions.
EDIT: I'm getting downvoted. How is this controversial? It's called reading basic social cues. Forced behavior is definitely distinguishable from natural behavior, especially among children. It makes more sense that he's interacting emotionally with the piece rather than reciting something he's learned because the latter would be much more difficult and unlikely.