Eclipse

Album review

Good luck to Joey Alexander if he wants to avoid any comment about his very young age… The pianist’s third studio album is released and he’s only sixteen! Born in 2003 in Bali, Alexander lived in Jakarta between the age of 8 and 10 before moving to New York in 2014, where he’s had one of the most searing career jumps in the history of jazz. Dubbed by godfathers such as Herbie Hancock and Wynton Marsalis, the Indonesian prodigy reinterpreted standards like Lush Life, Round Midnight, I Mean You and It Might As Well Be Spring on My Favorite Things, his first studio recording released in 2015, in a duo and trio with Larry Grenadier, and the excellent bass player Brad Mehldau… The following year, he passed a new milestone by writing most compositions himself on his second opus, Countdown, collaborating once again with Grenadier, as well as bass player Dan Chmielinski, drummer Ulysses Owens Jr., and saxophonist Chris Potter… With Eclipse, Joey Alexander once again takes our breath away, as he never plays the card of technical show-off or needless virtuosity. Not once! His piano is deep. Jason Olaine, the producer on this 2018 album, corroborates the hype: “Joey is a young musician with an incredible talent, but he never omits to truly create and always tries to have fun playing. He’s not running after rewards or acclaim. Eclipse shows how much he’s committed to an amazing adventure.”

Inspired by the total solar eclipse of August 21st, 2017, this album features six original compositions interpreted by bass player Reuben Rogers, drummer Eric Harland and on three tracks, saxophonist Joshua Redman. Alexander also covers a selection of very special tracks such as the Beatles’ Blackbird, John Coltrane’s Moment's Notice, Bill Evans’ Time Remembered, and Ray Noble’s classic The Very Thought Of You. But no matter the work he approaches, his determination, his musical sense, the finesse with which he integrates space into his music merely leave us speechless. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz