Above image: Joey Alexander… Photo credit Shane Rozario
This concert at The Lounge in Chatswood on October 19, featured the 22-year-old Indonesian pianist Joey Alexander, with his trio including Alon Near (double bass) and Tyson Jackson (drums). A packed house enjoyed immensely what can only be described as an incredible performance by an astonishing trio. Alexander showed that he’s a virtuoso who, along with his colleagues, has palpably taken the art of the modern jazz piano trio to a new level. Apparently Alexander was a genuine child prodigy who was celebrated in New York when he was aged 10 or 11, and was warmly praised by Wynton Marsalis. His story is indeed a fascinating one, and I’ll go more into it below.
First, however, a word on the Sydney group Zodiac which I first heard in 2024. I then reviewed their debut album The Wild Wild East in The Australian newspaper, and gave it a well-deserved four stars. An impressive modern jazz quartet, they include four relatively young Asian-Australians who met when they were students at the Sydney Conservatorium: pianist Jordan Chung (piano), Hinano Fujisaki (tenor saxophone), Sabine Tapia (double bass) and Manson Luk (drums). Finding themselves between two cultures, they felt detached from the Asian cultures their parents left behind, and their music is largely the outcome of dealing with the realities of Australian multicultural life.
Zodiac is full of talented composers. They provided a splendid curtain-raiser to the Joey Alexander Trio performance, featuring their original music. In a short set of half-an-hour or so they played four of their compositions, three of which are on their latest album From, released in 2025: Resolve; Kind Warmth, Gratitude (the latter two songs being merged); and Who Needs Enemies.
Unfortunately, I’m sorry to say, the sound technician on the night was somewhat unkind to this band. I could have done with much more presence on Chung’s piano sound, and Fujisaki’s tenor saxophone was similarly down in the sound mix. This was unusual for The Lounge where the monthly Jazz At The Lounge concerts have featured consistently pristine sound. Nonetheless, the most notable aspect of Zodiac’s performance was the great time-feel in the rhythm section, provided by the engine room of Tapia and Luk, two brilliant musicians who understand how to establish a groove.
After the interval Alexander and his two colleagues Near & Jackson did one long set. Alexander had a somewhat formulaic approach to most of the tunes he played. Initially he would play an impressionistic solo piano introduction, which usually was so melodic and rhapsodic that it sounded like a tour de force, until the rhythm section crept in. Once the bass and drums were playing, it was clear that the two accompanying musicians Near & Jackson were wonderful players. In particular Jackson on drums was deeply sensitive, often using brushes, and not necessarily tempted to explode onto the drums with his sticks. I was reminded of the description recently coined by the prolific Melbourne jazz writer Ian Muldoon: that such a musician was a “drum whisperer”. I would certainly apply that moniker to Jackson.
As Alexander’s performance went on, I was convinced that I’d never heard any jazz pianist quite like him. As an improviser he displayed a virtuosic method of navigating through a chord structure, with a style that was generally busy and often somewhat abstract. At the same time though he combined that abstraction with a melodic gift that rendered his solos immensely attractive. He played mostly original tunes written by himself, some of them from his recent album Celestial Keeper, released in July, 2026, such as Aversion and As Far as the Eye Can See. Generally, he did not announce the titles of the tunes he was playing, sending a clear message that he felt the music should speak for itself.
However, it should be mentioned that Alexander did not confine himself to originals. I was very glad to hear him play the great Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart standard I Didn’t Know What Time It Was which dates back to 1939 and, although Alexander didn’t announce the title, once again allowing the music to speak for itself, I was able to recognise Johnny Mandel’s lovely 1965 composition The Shadow of Your Smile.
While conceding that we were hearing music that was unquestionably unique and which, as I suggested earlier, was arguably taking the art of the jazz piano trio to a new level, I had one reservation about Alexander’s performance. There was a somewhat repetitive sameness about his approach throughout so, towards the end of his one-and-a-half-hour set, I felt his program could have done with another slow, soft ballad to complement The Shadow of Your Smile.
Regrettably this did not happen until the performance seemed to be at an end, whereupon, in reacting to what was palpably a standing ovation, Alexander announced they would play an additional number called, if I remember correctly, Sunny Waltz, which Alexander said he liked to play. Ironically, this was just what his repertoire was crying out for. This tune was a gospel-flavoured waltz with lovely, anthem-like, harmonic changes. It clearly showed that indeed Alexander was capable of playing in another gear. Finally, he was playing with understatement, not overawing his listeners with technique and high energy. His music here was at last down-home, bluesy and therefore significantly more accessible.
The story of Alexander’s past interaction with the iconic Wynton Marsalis is fascinating indeed. Marsalis learned about the then 10-year-old pianist when in 2014 a friend suggested he watch a YouTube video of Alexander playing compositions by artists such as Coltrane, Monk, and Chick Corea. Marsalis subsequently invited Alexander to make his United States debut performing at the Jazz at Lincoln Centre annual gala in May 2014, and later encouraged Alexander’s family to relocate from Indonesia to New York City.
Alexander began recording his debut album, My Favourite Things, in October 2014. It was released in May 2015, when he was aged 11. The album was widely praised, and nominated for two Grammy awards: one for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and another for Best Improvised Jazz Solo (for Coltrane’s Giant Steps). Having played a substantial role in Alexander’s US debut, Marsalis said of him, “There has never been anyone that you can think of who could play like that at his age. I loved everything about his playing—his rhythm, his confidence, his understanding of the music.”
This concert took place at The Lounge in Chatswood on October 19, 2026, and featured the Sydney quartet Zodiac, with pianist Jordan Chung (piano), Hinano Fujisaki (tenor saxophone), Sabine Tapia (double bass) and Manson Luk (drums); and the Joey Alexander Trio, including Alexander (piano), Alon Near (double bass) and Tyson Jackson (drums).
