Joey Alexander " 12-year-old Indonesian jazz prodigy nominated for top award "

Joey Alexander (born: Josiah Alexander Sila was born in New York City, June 25, 2003, age 12 years) is a jazz pianist from Indonesia. In a very young age (7 years) he has mastered the technique of piano and improvisation permaiann very important in jazz music flow. He released his first music album entitled "My Favorite Things" on May 12, 2015 at the age of 11 years under Motema Records, New York. Through this album, Joey get a Grammy Award nomination for the two categories: Best Jazz Instrumental Album ( "My Favorite Things") and Best Jazz Solo Improvisation (Giant Steps of the album).

Joey almost completely studied jazz itself (self-taught) since the age of six, when he was rewarded with the keyboard by her parents. He has appeared in front of Herbie Hancock and Bill Clinton. In 2014, Wynton Marsalis invited Alexander to play at the gala evening of Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2014, and he became "overnight sensation", writes The New York Times. Joey won the Grand Prix in the Master-Jam Fest 2013, and performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival in 2015.

Alexander is the first Indonesian artist entered the Billboard 200 in the US, with his debut album My Favorite Things reached # 174 on May 30, 2015.

Early history
 Joey Alexander Sila was born in Bali, Indonesia, from a couple Denny Sila and Farah Leonora Urbach, who runs the travel business petualangan.Ayahnya are amateur musicians, and both her parents are fans of jazz music, especially works of Louis Armstrong. Alexander studied jazz by listening to his classic album. At age six she taught herself to play the piano with his father giving a small electric keyboard, by listening to compositions such as "Well, You Need not" by Thelonious Monk and other jazz songs in the collection of his father. 

 Alexander said that for him to learn a musical instrument feels natural, parents who are Christian, believe THAT talent is "God's gift". Alexander considers Monk, John Coltrane, Harry Connick, Jr., Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock as his musical role models, as well as admire Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, Brad Mehldau, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver and McCoy Tyner.

Because there is no formal jazz course in his hometown, Alexander started playing in a jam session with musicians experienced in Bali and Jakarta, where his family eventually settled after the close of business tourism so that Alexander could tingal near Indonesia's top jazz musicians. Alexander played for Hancock at age 8 when he visited Jakarta as an ambassador for UNESCO. Hancock told Alexander that she believed him, and Alexander later describe it as "a day when I sacrifice my childhood to jazz". At the age of 9 years, Alexander won the Grand Prix in the Master-Jam Fest 2013, jazz music competitions for all ages in Odessa, Ukraine, followed by 43 musicians from 17 countries. Alexander and his family moved to New York in 2014.

Career
 Players jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, heard about Alexander after a friend suggested he watch YouTube videos featuring him brought the work Coltrane, Monk and Chick Corea. [Marsalis praising Alexander as a "hero" in his Facebook account and invite him to dinner gala in May 2014, when Alexander was 10 years old. Today it was the debut of Alexander in United States. He got a positive response to his appearance, particularly the solo version of 'Round Midnight' by Monk. The New York Times wrote he became "overnight sensation" after the show. Allen Morrison of Down Beat magazine said: "If the word 'genius' still has meaning, this child may be.

 He played his own solo variation for 'Round Midnight' with intelligence and expertise as an experienced pianist for decades." Marsalis said: "No one you know can play like that age. I love all of his game - his rhythm, confidence, and understanding of the music." Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Arthur Ashe tennis maestro's widow, invited Alexander to appear at the gala Arthur Ashe Learning Center, where she performed in front of the former U.S. president Bill Clinton. Moutoussamy-Ashe introduced him to Gordon Uehling III, founder CourtSense Tennis Training Center, allowing Alexander and his family lived in wismanya in Alpine, New Jersey.

Alexander played in A Great Night in Harlem at the Apollo Theater, the show in honor of Herbie Hancock. His appearance at the University of the District of Columbia exploded on the Internet, drawing 500,000 viewers on Facebook. Alexander also played in concert with students from the Juilliard School, which eventually allowed her to stay longer in New York. The concert, which attracted the attention of the national media at NBC News, a great success so Alexander deserve O-1 visa, which is given to "individuals with extraordinary abilities". He also looks good in concert in 2014 at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival and International Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta.

Alexander debut album, My Favorite Things, launched on May 12, 2015, by Motema Music label based in Harlem and produced the Grammy Award winner Jason Olaine. He was 11 years old at the launch of the album. Alexander started the recording process in October 2014. He mengaransir all the songs on the album, including variations of " 'Round Midnight", "Giant Steps" by Coltrane and Billy Strayhorn's work, "Lush Life". Alexander also included his own compositions, "Ma Blues", which is inspired by the work of Bobby Timmons, "Moanin '". "My Favorite Things" featuring band accompaniment consisting Alexander Russell Hall (bass), Alphonso Horne (trumpet) and Sammy Miller (drums), as well as guest stars Larry Grenadier and Ulysses Owens.  

Alexander performing important throughout 2015, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival in August. Newport producer, George Wein, usually reluctant to ask gifted children, but made an exception after Moutoussamy-Ashe invited Alexander to Wein apartment in Manhattan to play the piano. Wein said Alexander special appearance by "harmonic mature approach". The Jazz at Lincoln Center Alexander keen to include in their educational activities, to encourage the younger generation to listen to jazz. 

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

1. Best Improvised Jazz Solo
2. Best Jazz Instrumental Album         

“When I'm in stage I never plan, you know, ‘I'm going to do this’,” he said in a recently aired CBS interview. “But of course, you have a concept what you're going to do. But you don't really plan it.”
Wynton Marsalis told the show: “I've never heard anyone who could play like him. And no one has heard a person who could play like him. There's no question that [he has genius].”

As a young child he was hyperactive, so his parents Denny and Fara Silas bought him a keyboard to channel his energy. There are musicians in the family but they had no clue of his aptitude.
But Marsalis insisted that Joey is not the product of pushy parents. “This kid philosophically is so strong,” he told CBS. “And his parents are not pushing him. He's pushing them.”

Back in Indonesia, Lesmana has now moved from Jakarta to Bali to record a new album and open his own school of music there this year – and perhaps discover another Joey Alexander.

And as he prepares to watch the show’s broadcast from Los Angeles with his family on television at home, he added: “Joey has opened up a lot of people's eyes to see and know that Indonesia has so many great jazz talents. I'm very proud of him.”