12-year-old Indonesian jazz maestro is nominated for 2 Grammys

INDONESIAN jazz prodigy Joey Alexander has become one of the youngest musicians ever to be nominated for a Grammy award. And he’s not up for just one award either. He will be vying for two gongs – ‘Best Improvised Jazz Solo’ and ‘Best Jazz Instrumental Album’ – when awards night comes around in February.

The 12-year-old maestro has joined previous child Grammy nominees Michael Jackson and Zac Hanson, picking up the nominations before he even hits his teens.

On the back of his first album, ‘My Favorite Things’, Joey was already firmly on the international radar, being touted as one of the most promising jazz talents to emerge in quite some time.

After performing for jazz legend Herbie Hancock at an event in Jakarta at the age of eight (below), it was only a matter of time before international recognition beckoned. Two years later, the Bali-born maestro was invited to perform in the Big Apple by Wynton Marsalis, the director of Jazz at New York’s Lincoln Center.

“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,” Marsalis was reported as saying.

Joey already has an admirable list of fans, including Herbie Hancock himself.