You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - OG's React To IG's - #4

Episode Date: November 9, 2022

Adam Maness and Peter Martin are back to react to younger artists that have gained popularity on Instagram and other social media platforms. This episode features acclaimed pianist Joey Alexander.Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeCheck out courses from Adam, Peter and more at Open StudioLet us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Twitter | Instagram

Peter, hey what's up. It is the fourth installment of our extremely popular series, OGs, react to IG's. I love this. This is Quatro, dopio, dopio, as they say. OGs, original gangsters react to IG's, the youngans. Go for it. Here we go. You love that, don't you?

I'm Adam Anus. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear a podcast. A couple of guys, a couple of pianists. A guy, it's tricky. It's really, what is it talking about music. The piano is talking about music. The way your attitude shifts when you're, you're listening.

you say the tag language. I don't like the pressure. Just a couple of guys. I don't like the pressure. But it really is. I mean, that's what this has become. It's a beautiful thing. I'm honored and excited and exalted to be here in your presence. We have producer Caleb over at the mixing board. We have you at the mixing board. I don't know why you're both at the mixing board, but it's all good. And today we are talking about, thank you guys to our dear listeners. The new channel is blowing up. Can we talk about that? Yeah. If you haven't gone and subscribed to our new, uh, YouTube, you'll hear it channel. Go there. You're going to see a bunch of videos of all the podcasts we're making. And we go live there every Monday with a little jazz helpline live. Monday at 4 p.m. Eastern standard time.

And even if you are primarily a listener to the pod, which is what I, that's, to be honest, that's how I primarily consumed it. It's the greatest. I don't like looking at us, but I do like, I don't even like listening to us. But if I'm going to, I'm going to listen. You know, yeah. But I still go over and subscribe on the YouTube because you can participate in the lively comment section. Yeah. And subscribe soon before Elon Musk buys YouTube and charges you to subscribe. So you want to do it now. And just play the right notes. Just play the right notes.

Is that so hard? Exactly. Well, I'll tell you what, playing the right notes is not hard for our IG musician today. Yes. This one is... First of all, is he an IG music? We're going to have a little bit more of a YouTube musician, I would say, which is, you know, the case with a lot of the people that I think we would talk about. But we did our Jesus Molina episode, and Jesus was a very popular episode.

But in the comments for the Hesu's comments for the Hesu's Malina episode, we got a lot of requests for this person. This is, drum roll please. This is Joey Alexander. That's right. We've got probably more requests for our ongoing award-winning series. Oh, geez, react to IGs. For this young artist, not as young as when I first met him,

but young artists than anybody, right? Totally agree. And you know what? I was just realizing, is he the first? He might be the only IG artist that's actually playing like, straight ahead. Right. Modern jazz.

Like everyone else is playing some kind of version of of Herbie. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, like,

you know, a lot of fusion. A lot of Nord's so far happening. A lot of Nams and Nords. A lot of Nams. A lot of Nords. A lot of Nords.

A lot of Nams. A lot of flurries going on. Yeah, we probably wouldn't have put Joey Alexander. So this, you might be saying this is controversial.

He's not an IG artist. This is what y'all asked for. Y'all put him. Don't blame me. them. No, they're the ones. No, I'm saying we wouldn't have, in our list of potential IG artists, I don't think Joey would have come up. I consider Joey to just be a great jazz musician, who happens to be super friggin young. Yeah. Well, not anymore, but we've known him since he was young.

He's still young, but I mean, he's, yeah, exactly. So this will be fun, though. But because he's in that same age group with the other artists, we're talking about it, I think that that's very applicable. And to talk about where the music's going. Look, Variety's the Spice of Life. You ever heard of that? I have heard of that. I have heard of that. And actually, so, I wonder before we play, so I have something cute up here that if you haven't heard, it's going to blow your mind or if you haven't seen it. Again, go to the YouTube if you want to watch the video on this. But Peter, you have an interview with, I think it's Anderson Cooper in 60 Minutes with

Wint Marcellus and Joey Alexander. When Joey was just bursting onto the scene here, still quite young, still a child. We know how old Joey Alexander is now. That would have, that could have, I'll look it off. I got you. That could have been good for our research for this. But you know what? We like doing things.

So he's born in, he's 19 years old now. Okay. And this was, um, approximately seven years ago. So he's like 12 years old. I was going to say 11 or 12. Um, and yeah, I think folks will enjoy this. Let's pull it up on the, there we go. There's Mr. Marcellus.

What's happening in Winton, Skane as he's known. Um, and yeah, this is Winton talking about a young. Keep in mind, this is 2016. So we're going back a few years. I mean, in classical music, we've seen a lot of prodigies before. jazz do you see no we don't we don't have we don't have any tradition or history of prodigies pre-puberty we do have precocious musicians who are 15 and 16 who can play because we we're inventing music you have to be able to and also we prize identity even now he has the elements of

his style are very original and it's the most difficult thing to achieve your own sounds you've never seen that in somebody hit it not just me no one has ever seen whoa it's a big No one has ever seen a person play with that type of sophistication harmonically, knowledge of the music, and that type of formed identity and the ability to invent something cohesive in the context of time. So that's because that's the thing about jazz. It's not just knowing the notes. It's not just knowing the music. It's not about the notes, right?

It's improvising. It's adult music. Like, it doesn't celebrate being a child. It celebrates the progression to adulthood. And that's why Joey and I talk a more. Joey getting uncomfortable what he said that. He's like, what am I doing here then? Put out because he's a kid.

The goal is adulthood to develop artistry, but philosophically when I first spoke with him, he's extremely strong. Yeah, so, I mean, Winton, I think, did a fantastic job. I kind of remember around this time of, I mean, he wasn't, like he just, I don't think he claims he discovered him or anything, but really

not only featuring him with his band some and at jazz and Lincoln Center stuff early on, but in a way that was very, you know, respectful of him being a young dude. Yeah. But also really, you know, keeping in mind what a rare once a generation or is witnessing ever, I don't know about that, but maybe so.

I mean, it's hard to know because it was, there could have been, I mean, it's hard to believe that Art Tatum wasn't able to do this when he was a kid. Right. You know what I mean? Starting so early. But maybe I think Winton's talking about it, and we're going to hear in some of the examples, you know, the creativity at that time. I remember being like the maturity for his playing.

It wasn't like he was playing like a 60-year-old. old, but he wasn't playing like an 11-year-old. No. You know, it was like playing like a really great young player that's like 16 or 18 or 22 that you'd be like, I really enjoy it. Yeah, it was like, if you didn't look at him and see how young he was. He was like a teenager who was a real prodigy. Right.

Or like, as Whitten said, which I love like a precocious teenager. Because, you know, Witten's right. Because, you know, in classical music, you can have chops at an early age. Anybody can have chops on their instrument. Right. Just doing push-ups as reps. Right. We're seeing that in the classical world a lot.

I mean, by the thousands. And even like a lot of Instagram, IG musicians, a lot of drummers and things like that. We see these kids. We do a classical. Can we do it? Okay, I got to do that one. But not even classical.

Like people who are playing like, you know, food fighter songs when they're four years old in the drums or whatever and they're chopping it up, right? Like, anybody can play that. But it's the ability, and this is what sets, I think, Joy Alexander apart. It was his, at that age, ability to have his own sound and to create music to compose music on the spot.

Yeah. It's just, you just don't see. Right. You know, just kids that age. So here's him. I wonder, Peter, if you can share my screen here. Here's Joey at 13. So this is the year after that interview with Winton playing Countdown.

John Coltrane's Countdown with Larry Grenadier and open studio artist Ulysses Owens Jr. Yes. And I've got to be kidding. Got to be kidding. That's Power Station. A big shout out to that incredible press roll. Shout out to UO's press roll. Finding your beat.

Finding your beat, Ulyssie Owens. Good rhythm section. Big shout out to that huge sound on the face. Very creditor. Whoa. I like those guys. 13 years old. Hello.

It's that, man. It's the ability to be in the moment. The space here. Right? I mean, he doesn't have as much chops as domy or, I mean, he's also much younger than everybody else we've ever watched here. You said 13 years old? 13 years old.

I think the youngest person we watched was like 19 or something. Yeah. And so it's a big difference. It's a big difference. But it's the fact that he was able to be present and with the music that was happening, even doing a solo piano thing and let themes develop and let dynamics and space happen. That's something that you don't see for a lot of IG musicians either. Absolutely.

And I mean, you know what I realized, and I'm remembering back, of course, you know, his technique and his musicality is composing. Everything has developed a bunch since then, which is exciting. And I wasn't surprised when I first heard him around this time because I was like, you know, I mean, there's always the question of like they're young and they're getting accolades. are they going to keep their heads, you know, on straight, or the parents are going to mess it up. His parents are super sweet. I've known them for a while.

And, you know, they're very, you know, that's a whole other thing that can derail things, but are really close in the family. But what I'm noticing there, like he doesn't have actually outsized chop for 13 years. No, not at all. Yeah. I mean, I think I probably had chops about like that at 13 years. I could see that.

But I couldn't play that. Right. Like, there's his phrasing. Yeah. Is the part of his chops, which is the much more subtle part. Yeah. that's so amazing to me.

I could play fast when I was 13 as well. Yeah. I mean, he's definitely in the 1%. But I'm just saying that to me is not the most impressive thing. It's his velocity kind of job. It's the soul that's happening in the music. That's what's so like out of this world about it. It's like I've never seen a kid that age.

And it's weighing. And it's like he just really creative things and like the phrasing is great. It's just weird to see a young person with that. You know, a big difference I think with Joey and the other people. And there's no disrespect to the other people we've watched. But he's also doing this with Larry Grenadier and Ulysses Owens Jr. Right. And he's not.

He's not just playing with his peers where he's like, play this, let's work this thing out for eight hours. Or with himself, right, recording himself over and over again. He's playing live in the studio with two of the greats. You listen to Jacob Collier? We're calling you out. No, I mean, come on. But like, it is, that is impressive.

Yeah. For that age. You know, for people to hang with those guys in the way that he is. Let's keep going here. Okay. So what age will be? going to next. Well, let's do, hold on.

I'm going to rely on you, Peter, to. Okay. Oh, too. So let's go with the old, this was from three months ago. So now he is, what, 19, he said? Larry's still in this band.

Larry's not. That is. Galad Hekelsman. The Rhodes. Yeah. Now he's been playing. with like some heading musicians since he was 12 years old. Yeah, but that can mess you off too.

Yeah. Either take your next level or the way you're going perfectly to plan, Peter. Everything's going perfectly to plan. You know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. Progressing nicely. Oh, got you. Well, no, it's just, it's very like, I love the way that he was playing.

Like, you can really feel. and then I'm starting to think and analyze it, like his interaction with everybody. But especially like with Kendrick Scott, like that was some very advanced. It's the kind of thing that if you're listening, you get the benefits because it's like, wow, it's so interactive.

Like I can tell you guys are really listening to each other, that kind of a thing. But it's also like there's some real inside baseball there to the way that Kendrick plays. And I've played with Kendrick, you know, a few times. I play with him quite a few times. And he's really the kind of drummer that, he's always going to like he's a great accompanist but if you interact with him in a way that's kind of

getting close to his advanced level he'll really really dig in with you and have those conversations it's kind of like you're talking to somebody and you know there's different levels and they'll kind of see like can you go to that deep level of conversation and if you do it's very exciting because you connect in that way and joey's doing that you know in a way that belies his age for sure but and he's not you know relying on overly flabby he's doing some of the two-handed stuff but it's very musical and then going into the comping and so doing and It's spot on. I'm a fan.

It's good, but just honestly, like I'm wondering, I mean, it was good, really good. Ooh, we might have our first debate in a while since number one OG reacts. Yeah. No, but so will he advance past this state? Because this is, so you could hear other 19-year-old pianists doing this exact same sound. So like, will he find a different sound having started so young?

or is he going to kind of just kind of go into the fold of East Coast musicians who can really play and are obviously influenced here. You can hear a lot of Brad Meldo. Maybe that's because Larry's there. It's 19 years old. But I think, yeah, that's the day. You know what I'm saying, though? It's like it sounds like he's a prodigy.

Do we treat him like he's, you know, a seven-year veteran? Right. So that's not as fully baked as I was expecting, to be honest. Like, I mean, really, really good. But like, is it a, but is it a, is it a, is it a progressive as he was when he was 12? is it that for a 19 year old or is he just kind of falling into? I'm not a... I'm not a fan of...

What? Joey elegant? No, I am a fan. No, no, no, no, no. I need to listen to more. But no, you know what I'm saying, though? Like, didn't it seem... It doesn't seem, I was going to say, expected, but it sounded really high quality, but a little pedestrian to you perhaps?

Extremely high quality. Yeah. Don't get me wrong. Extremely high quality. I couldn't play like that when I was 19. That's sophisticated for sure. I can't play like that now. But, like, it's...

Is it a sound is it a little bit expected? Is it a little bit like, is it a little bit like, oh, yeah, well, that's what 19 year olds play in modern jazz when they live in Baltimore or whatever. Yeah, I know, but I wonder now, we came up in a different time. We both came up in a little bit of a different time,

but more similar than like when we talk about Joey Alexander and, you know, domy. Like, this is kind of unusual now for a 19 year old, I would say. I mean, we know other ones, of course, that are doing that. and yeah but it's not as prevalent I think that a 19 year old pianist can really connect with a Larry Grenadier and um no that's true

the guitarist whose name I'm forgetting already and it was amazing yeah and Kendrick Scott on that level that's what I'm saying like there's something that on his obvious that I think we take for granted because you would be doing that you know I mean but yes so that does give it a certain amount of like okay he's not the only one they can do that I guess I'm hoping for I was hoping more and I'd love to see him just like grow past the typical straight-ahead jazz route. I love the straight-ahead jazz thing, but like, it seems like he's almost...

But that's this thing. Yeah, not allowed to do that anymore because everything is like got to be, you know, from another planet or something. Yeah. No. I feel like he's got a really good place. I mean, if he just continues along this, I'm happy. Because I don't necessarily see, like, a lot of times when we see these prodigies, I've seen it so much in classical music more because it's happening more.

When somebody just becomes a really good player and then everybody's like, well, why didn't they become Beethoven or something. It's like, well, just because you start early doesn't mean you're going to go. Like, he's in that top group of players, I think certainly 19. I mean, when do you start to consider somebody like a pro player? I mean, obviously he did it way earlier. But if you say somebody who's between 16 and, you know, 116 or whatever, you know, like you've got that group, but you've got the younger players, 16 to 30, say.

To me, he's not necessarily the top of the heap, like he's my number one. but he's in that A group, you know, he's top shelf to me. I want to listen to a little more. You might if we listen to a little more of his new album? I just want to get a, it's Mac Avenue, by the way, always doing interesting stuff. Oh, he's on Mac, yeah, of course. No, shame on me. I haven't heard a lot of this.

Yeah, no. Okay. I got a question for you. So it isn't really fair of me here because... Well, no, no, no, it is, but check it out. Like, say you didn't know who this was. I played it for you, and I said, this is a young piano. That's what I was just going to say.

Yeah. What would you, what would you, what would you react to? This is promising. This is good. Yeah. And I think it's okay just because we started earlier that we say it's promising. He's really good. Because to me it's like, you know, his time, it feels interaction.

It's very advanced. I'm not saying it's advanced beyond everybody else, but he's put himself in that group. And he could have stumbled with the, with the whole child prodigy thing into being like those actors and actresses that end up like shoplifting. I was glad he didn't do that. You know what is not helping with this conversation? is the Winton clip that we started with. Because he's got him being like, no one's ever heard this before.

Right. And I've heard this before. Like this, I've heard 19-year-olds who explore this realm. It's what you do, right? Like you play with these great players and you explore some sounds. I mean,

he's really learning how to become a top-level improviser. But I think with the setup that we had in the beginning of Winton saying like, never heard any- Hiked our expectations again. You're like, we're going to get Buddy Bolden on the piano. Yeah, I want to hear sounds I've never heard before.

I want to hear a completely. completely different, you know, kinds of instrumentation and stylistic choices. And it seems kind of straight down the middle. Yeah, you know, you're right. I think to be fair, as I'm recalling, and look, full disclosure here, we didn't have a, we, we started talking about this. And you're like, save it for the pilot, because we thought this was, and it is a super interesting discussion to have live here. But I would say that Winton at that time, like, I don't know that he ever said, like, this is going to be the most innovative musician since Buddy Bolton. But it was just like, we have never seen.

That's true. During that thing, but that's no guarantee that that means you're going to be Thelonious Monk or whatever. Absolutely. And you know what? It's not fair for me to put that on this kid who's like still finding out what kind of musician he wants to be at 19. Who knows who they're going to be? And just because he had more attention when he was 11, 12, 13, like we all have expectations from him. That's not fair for him.

It's got to be tough, man. It's always a hard thing to be a prodigy. And then especially because that like went right to his most formative years in a way of kind of boyhood demand or during the pandemic when there wasn't a much performance. true it's a tough thing but um well i can't wait to hear more honestly i want to see where it goes yeah absolutely sounds good well until next time you'll hear it