Pianist Joey Alexander Comes To Walnut Creek in May

The Lesher Center Presents Headliners series continues with jazz pianist-composer Joey Alexander, the youngest musician ever nominated for a Grammy Award in jazz, whose breathtaking swing and improvisational style that have made him an international sensation. Alexander exploded onto the jazz scene as one of the most expressive and thrilling pianists in the genre, a brilliantly precocious talent who performs classic standards, as well as his own compositions. Joining Alexander for this performance are musicians who also represent the very best of their jazz generations, bassist Kris Funn and drummer John Davis.

The Joey Alexander Trio will perform 7:30pm, Friday, May 6 at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr, Walnut Creek. For tickets ($37-$62) and more information, the public may visit www.lesherartscenter.org or call the box office at (925) 943-7469 (open Wed-Sun, 12-6pm).

Born in Bali, Indonesia in 2003, Joey Alexander taught himself to play the piano at age six by listening to albums by Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, and others. Introduced to their music by his father, an amateur musician and jazz aficionado, Alexander achieved an astonishing degree of proficiency while learning on a small keyboard without formal training. By age eight, he was invited by UNESCO to play solo piano for one of his idols, Herbie Hancock. The following year, he won the Grand Prize at the Master-Jam Fest in Ukraine and went on to play at prestigious jazz festivals worldwide. Championed by veterans including Hancock and Wynton Marsalis, the latter of whom invited him to perform at a Jazz at Lincoln Center gala, Alexander's career was launched to wide international acclaim, with high-profile appearances at the Apollo Theater, Juilliard, and the Copenhagen Jazz Festival.

Alexander has earned several Grammy nods, for his albums My Favorite Things and Countdown, both of which hit Number One on the Billboard 200 chart. Recorded when Alexander was only 11, My Favorite Things garnered Grammy nominations for Best Instrumental Jazz Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo. Upon the album's release, The New York Times called Alexander a "thoughtful musician as well as a natural one, with a sophisticated harmonic palette and a dynamic sensitivity." Alexander's sophomore album, Countdown, earned a Grammy nomination for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for his rendition of the John Coltrane-penned title track. In 2016, Alexander performed at the 58th Grammy Awards, as well as at the White House for the Obamas as part of a televised International Jazz Day special. Alexander recently signed with Mack Avenue Music Group and his label debut Origin-his first album of all original works-is slated to release this spring. He composed the album's ten tracks during the pandemic and is joined on his new release by a stellar coterie of players including saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist Larry Grenadier, percussionist Kendrick Scott, and guitarist Gilad Hekselman. Alexander's approach to original work as well as interpretations of classics continues to astonish concertgoers. "Alexander can still dispense dazzling, impossibly inventive runs when he wants to, but it's not his primary game anymore," said NPR. "Instead...he brings out the graceful contours and shapes of his original songs - songs that have a thoughtful, old-man wisdom to them." Joining Alexander for his performance in Walnut Creek is a cast of musicians who also represent the very best of their jazz generations, including bassist Kris Funn and drummer John Davis.

Kris Funn (Bass) was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He began playing the trumpet at age four and took up the double bass at age 14, performing his first professional bass gig the same year he began learning the instrument. He won the "unsung hero" title at the Fish Middleton jazz competition at the East Coast Jazz festival, also in his first year of instruction. At age 23, Funn began touring internationally with alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett. Since then, he has traveled to every major jazz festival in the world touching six continents performing with artists including Christian Scott, Joey Alexander, Sean Jones, and Kamasi Williams, among others. Funn appears on several recordings including the Grammy-nominated albums Emancipation Proclamation and Ancestral Recall by Scott, and released his own debut album, Cornerstore, in 2017. Funn is currently part of the jazz faculty at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins and continues to perform in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area when not touring internationally.

John Davis (Drummer) was born in Louisiana, now based in New York. He picked up his first pair of drumsticks at the age of six and started performing professionally during his freshman year of high school. Davis attended the University of North Florida, where he received formal drum training and sought the tutelage of Rick Kirkland, the former drummer for Ray Charles. He attended the Manhattan School of Music in New York City where he began studying under jazz education legend John Riley. Davis has toured around the world with major names in jazz, and on recordings with Medeiros Brothers.

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