Perhaps one of the most talked about performances post-Grammys was that from the young Joey Alexander, a jazz pianist who is a mere 12 years old. Alongside a compelling Hamilton livestream, Joey was honored as the youngest Grammy nominee this year with a short jazz run on the piano, just to give the audience a taste.
Justin Bieber's younger brother, who is in the same age bracket, may have received his own coverage, but Mr. Alexander certainly held more prestige. With a close-up of Herbie Hancock and Don Cheadle watching with note from the audience, Joey's stellar performance illustrates the artist's brilliant talent, cultivated at such a young age.
As Neil Portnow, President and CEO of the Recording Academy, put it in the video below:
"We live in challenging times. Here's what we in the creativite community know: we cannot let anything stop us from making our music. Not a lack of funding for music in our schools, not business practices that don't pay music creators fairly, and not violence at a concert hall in Paris--or anywhere."
These "business practices" were then outlined by a projected image of a penny cut-up into eighths, where he harped on the idea: "When you stream a song, all the people that created that music receive a fraction of a penny. Isn't a song worth more than a penny?"
Indeed, Mr. Portnow, it is.
And so to advance his pawn further in light of this notion, Mr. Portnow and Common presented Joey Alexander, who received a standing ovation for his performance. A well-planned detail of Portnow's speech, Mr. Alexander came off as impossibly charming.
Now, while Mr Alexander much-deservedly was granted a few minutes to perform, it would have otherwise been a more choice decision to premiere him as the other artists were. While vocal runs are nice, they are unlistenable four, five, six and so on performances in.
Joey Alexander, who was nominated for two awards, Best Instrumental Jazz Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo was defeated by his more-established peers. It's no worry, though, as the prodigy will have many more years to get a statue.
Sure, we get it, the top earners walked away with the top awards, but perhaps the real Best New Artist was actually a 12-year-old from Indonesia, who appeared bored to have even been there.
View the Grammy performance from Mr. Joey Alexander below and also check out an in-studio performance of "Giant Steps" beneath that.
"Giant Steps"
