Child Prodigy

[mrjazzman]

I am ecstatic. I have discovered Joey Alexander, self taught 14 yr old prodigy from Jakarta. Been playing since he was 6 yrs old and was accomplished at 8. He's coming to Yoshi's in Oakland, CA in May, have my tickets already. Had to tear myself away from youtube. Listened to dad's old jazz records, dad bought him a small keyboard.  Monk and Armstrong caught his interest and as they say, the rest is history. I'd like to thank Fate & Destiny for bringing his parents together. I've heard of self taught but this is unbelievable. Has the jazz music world ever seen anything like this. I'm sure someone will say there have been plenty of child prodigies.

[Late]

16 hours ago, mrjazzman said:

Had to tear myself away from youtube.

I had the same experience a year or so ago. Never mind technique; he has a command of the jazz piano idiom (mostly Peterson and Hancock as I hear it), which is something else entirely. I hope he continues to develop and become (crucially) more idiosyncratic. In that vein, I hope someone plays, say, Cecil Taylor or Lennie Tristano for him. 

[mrjazzman]

I say he can continue to develop without going in the direction of Cecil Taylor, I strongly disagree with that. Idiosyncrasy is already in his playing.   And, I'll bet he's given at least a cursory listen to the Avant Garde. Right now, at 14, I'll bet he'd choose Peterson/Monk over Taylor/Coleman.........

[jazzbo]

I have his album released several years ago and saw him interviewed on 60 minute. He's a talent, indeed. 

[felser]

the other guy that comes to mind is Joey DeFrancisco, who had the B-3 DOWN at an incredibly early age, doing Jimmy Smith perfectly at 5, playing in a group with Hank Mobley and Philly Joe Jones at 10, etc.

[sgcim]

I loved the way the kid played on that 60 Minute episode. I'd like to open a Kickstarter on him to keep him enclosed inside a big bubble that prevented him from listening to any non-swinging players.

We could implant something in his brain that would implode inside his head that causes a life-threatening situation every time he's exposed to a pianist who can't groove/swing.

I know it sounds extreme, but we've got to take extreme measures to preserve the music.

Edited December 31, 2017 by sgcim

[Guy Berger]

Yes, there is no greater imperative than protecting this kid from exposure to new ideas

[jlhoots]

2 hours ago, Guy Berger said:

Yes, there is no greater imperative than protecting this kid from exposure to new ideas

[felser]

Good thing that Coltrane guy and that Ornette guy never broke away from their licks as a Johnny Hodges and Pee Wee Crayton sideman.  Could have been dangerous, all hell could have broken loose in jazz in the late 50's,  the 60's, and the early 70's.  Wouldn't have wanted THAT to happen!  If it had, we would have needed a Wynton Marsalis or something to restore order.

[medjuck]

I saw him last year. He's the real deal. (BTW IIRC he played something by Coltrane.) 

[JSngry]

I just don't care, about him, what happens to "swinging jazz", any of that. More and more, that's feeling like caring about the Brooklyn Dodgers. I mean, great lifecycle, essential folklore/history, but in real time, over and getting over-er.

[clifford_thornton]

Kid is creepy. I'd rather hear players honing their craft at 81 than 11. 

[sonnymax]

“There's a stark difference between the words 'prodigy' and 'genius.' Prodigies can very quickly learn what other people have already figured out; geniuses discover that which no one has ever previously discovered. Prodigies learn; geniuses do.”  - John Green

[Peter Friedman]

In my view there have been many child prodigies over the years. Most of them faded, or at least did not become major jazz players as adults.

But , no surprise, I  disagree strongly with Jim's comment. As I see it, there is room in that large jazz environment for a variety of styles of jazz. Some young jazz musicians are moving in a direction of what Jim might think of as "non-swinging" jazz, while others are more focused on the "swinging"  approach. It makes little sense to me to hold a view that while new directions in jazz are taking shape, it becomes necessary to hope that earlier styles must die. 

While we all have our own personal favorite style or styles of jazz, I say viva la difference.

[sgcim]

I can see there's a lot of support here for my brilliant idea!

I've worked quite some time on the construction of the bubble. I consulted with some of the technicians from the old Prisoner TV series and they've agreed to donate some of the protoplasmic gook that they used to chase Patrick McGoohan when he dared to proclaim that he was a man and not a number.

Then we'll get the kid's old man to keep programming the kid's listening choices, and add a few of our own:

McCoy

Tommy Flanagan

Hank Jones

Cedar Walton

Bill Evans

Barry harris

Ahmad Jamal

Steve Kuhn

Eddie Higgins

Eddie Costa

Michael Weiss

Jon Weiss

Kenny Barron

Thelonious

Martial Solal

Don Friedman

Etc...

We will also have to protect him with armed bodyguards to keep corrosive influences from the outside (Wynton, Russell Simmons, etc...) from trying to veer our young prodigy off his guided path.

[T.D.]

Lots of child prodigies in this age of computerized training.

Here's a 2-year-old classical pianist

Here's a young (OK, he's 20) Russian chess grandmaster playing classical piano pieces from memory while simultaneously playing 3 blindfold chess games:

Scroll down to the Daniil Yuffa video; performance starts at 4:30

 

[JSngry]

3 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

Some young jazz musicians are moving in a direction of what Jim might think of as "non-swinging" jazz, while others are more focused on the "swinging"  approach.

Seriously? I don't like anything that doesn't swing.But a lot of music doesn't swing that "swings".

[danasgoodstuff]

'...But a lot of music doesn't swing that "swings".'   And vice versa.

as to young Joey, I listened to this 

 

hardly the worst Monk I've heard, pretty darned good actually, but worlds shy of being Monk and making that shit up.

[JSngry]

I don't know if I like this or not, which sometimes  is part of the fun.

 

[Peter Friedman]

On 12/31/2017 at 7:05 AM, JSngry said:

I just don't care, about him, what happens to "swinging jazz", any of that. More and more, that's feeling like caring about the Brooklyn Dodgers. I mean, great lifecycle, essential folklore/history, but in real time, over and getting over-er.

Jim,

My previous post was a reaction this comment by you above. It was not caring about what happens to "swinging jazz", and suggesting that "swinging jazz'  was over and no more than essential folklore/history.

I know full well that you have great affection for the swinging jazz masters of the past, as well as the few of advanced age still with us

But my impression is that you care little for any "younger" jazz players who choose to play in styles that we think of as Traditional jazz, Swing, Bebop, Hard Bop, West Coast, to name the more prominent ones. 

[JSngry]

I like anybody who swings. "Swinging" though...yuck. And most of these "younger" players playing "traditional styles" "swing". To me.

Swing is a very personal reaction, and my "swing" is probably your swing, which is all good, just don't confuse that with right and/or wrong.

Nice place to visit, always, but I can't live there now. Nobody can. But I get that everybody has dreams, and that if your dream is strong enough, it is your reality. Nothing wrong with that as long as you don't wake up for any longer than it takes to eat a meal or two a day.

And oh, btw - I like very few of the younger players, period, traditional or otherwise. They almost all sound like they're trying to reinvent whatever wheel it is that rolled them in.

I do like Matana Roberts, though, but...has she stopped? Re-energizing? Something?

[Scott Dolan]

I have to say that I find the term “swing” trite, over-used, and barely understood. 

If it’s good to my ears, I like it. If it isn’t, I don’t. 

Couldn’t give two fucks as to whether it “swings” or not. 

[kh1958]

3 hours ago, JSngry said:

I like anybody who swings. "Swinging" though...yuck. And most of these "younger" players playing "traditional styles" "swing". To me.

Swing is a very personal reaction, and my "swing" is probably your swing, which is all good, just don't confuse that with right and/or wrong.

Nice place to visit, always, but I can't live there now. Nobody can. But I get that everybody has dreams, and that if your dream is strong enough, it is your reality. Nothing wrong with that as long as you don't wake up for any longer than it takes to eat a meal or two a day.

And oh, btw - I like very few of the younger players, period, traditional or otherwise. They almost all sound like they're trying to reinvent whatever wheel it is that rolled them in.

I do like Matana Roberts, though, but...has she stopped? Re-energizing? Something?

 

Matana Roberts has not stopped--I just saw her in October at the Bric Jazz Festival in Brooklyn. She played a solo concert. There was too much talking for me (she alternated improvised solo pieces with commentary), though she is kind of amusing.

Edited January 1, 2018 by kh1958

[JSngry]

You mean she used her literal voice as well as her figurative one? How primitive!

I love me some good talking.

 

 

[T.D.]

4 hours ago, JSngry said:

....

Nice place to visit, always, but I can't live there now. Nobody can...

Well, lots of people live there now, just not in the way you mean...

Ebbets Field Apartments in Crown Heights, overlaid with a drawing to scale of Ebbets Field as it was.  

Not to be trite, but things change/evolve/devolve/whatever, regardless of how much I bitch about it.

Edited January 1, 2018 by T.D.