Joey Alexander — Newman Center Presents in partnership with KUVO

One of the most expressive and thrilling pianist-composers currently at work in jazz, Joey Alexander has become a renowned festival and concert-hall headliner in just the past five years. He was the youngest musician ever nominated for a Grammy Award in a jazz category, leading to a profile on 60 Minutes, a front-page article in The New York Times, and such honors as critics’ and readers’ poll victories in DownBeat and JazzTimes.

Alexander’s latest release WARNA on Verve Records spotlights his original work along with personalized interpretations of great songs. He channels what he sees, hears, and feels throughout his life and travels into his astonishing melodic gift and natural aptitude for spontaneous collaboration. Early on in Alexander’s ascent, the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis said that “there has never been anyone… who could play like that at his age.” Marsalis, who essentially “discovered” Alexander via his YouTube videos and invited him to New York, was spot-on in his assessment. As can be heard through WARNA, Alexander continues to perform at the highest level.