Joey Alexander (born Josiah Alexander Sila; June 25, 2003) is an Indonesian jazz pianist and is considered a child prodigy. He released his first album, "My Favorite Things" on May 12, 2015, at age 11. Alexander taught himself to play jazz at age six, and has performed for Herbie Hancock and Bill Clinton. In 2014, Wynton Marsalis invited Alexander to play at the Jazz at Lincoln Center's 2014 gala, which made him an "overnight sensation", according to The New York Times. Alexander won the Grand Prix at the 2013 Master-Jam Fest, and performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival in 2015. Alexander is the first Indonesian act ever to enter the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, where his debut album My Favorite Things debuted at number 174 on the week ending May 30, 2015, re-entered and peaked at number 59 on January 2016.
Josiah Alexander Sila was born in the city of Denpasar, in Bali, Indonesia, to parents Denny Sila and Farah Leonora Urbach, who ran an adventure tourism business. His father was an amateur musician, and both parents were fans of jazz music, particularly the works of Louis Armstrong. He is the nephew of the rock singer Nafa Urbach. Alexander learned about jazz by listening to classic albums his father gave him. By age six he had taught himself to play piano using a miniature electric keyboard his father brought home for him, learning by ear compositions like Thelonious Monk's "Well, You Needn't" and other songs from his father's jazz collection. Alexander later said learning the instrument came naturally for him; his parents, who are Christians, consider his talent "a gift from God". Alexander considers Monk, John Coltrane, Harry Connick, Jr., Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock among his main musical influences, and also particularly admires Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, Brad Mehldau, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver and McCoy Tyner.
Due to the unavailability of formal jazz training where he grew up, Alexander began playing in jam sessions with experienced musicians in Bali and Jakarta, where his family moved after disbanding their tourism business so Alexander could live near Indonesia's top jazz musicians. Alexander played for Hancock at age 8 when he was visiting Jakarta as a UNESCO goodwill ambassador. Hancock told Alexander he believed in him, and Alexander later described that as "the day I decided to dedicate my childhood to jazz". At age 9, Alexander won the Grand Prix at the 2013 Master-Jam Fest, an all-ages jazz music competition in Odessa, Ukraine, which included 43 musicians from 17 nations. Alexander and his family moved to New York City in 2014.
