Continuance (Mack Avenue)
Joey Alexander
Released November 3, 2023
JAZZ.FM91 Best Jazz Albums of 2023
AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2023
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About:
Pianist/composer Joey Alexander’s seventh album, Continuance, is the story of a critically acclaimed artist at the peak of his creativity, not only as a bandleader but as a celebrated composer. At 20 years old, Alexander has gathered his touring band, consisting of Kris Funn (bass) and John Davis (drums), to translate their unique improvisation on the stage to the studio with the help of trumpeter Theo Croker. Featuring five newly written original compositions and breathtaking renditions of “I Can’t Make You Love Me” (made famous by Bonnie Raitt) and the popular hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” Alexander is bound to make new waves on a global level.
Track Listing:
1. Blue (Joey Alexander) 6:46
2. Why Don’t We (Joey Alexander) 7:48
3. Hear Me Now (Joey Alexander) 8:27
4. I Can’t Make You Love Me (Michael Barry Reid / Allen Shamblin) 5:03
5. Zealousy (Joey Alexander) 6:46
6. Great Is Thy Faithfulness (Thomas O. Chisholm / William Runyan) 5:05
7. Aliceanna (Joey Alexander) 6:00
Personnel:
Joey Alexander: piano, Fender Rhodes, Mellotron
Theo Croker: trumpet (1, 2, 3, 5)
Kris Funn: upright bass
John Davis: drums
Recorded and Mixed March 30-31, 2023, at The Bunker – Brooklyn, NY
Producers: Joey Alexander and Danny Sila
Production Manager: Tom Korkidis
Executive Producer: Gretchen Valade
Engineer: John Davis
Assistant Engineer: Nolan Thies
Mastered by Harold LaRue
Art Direction: Hollis King
Photography: Roy Cox
Review:
With 2023’s Continuance, Joey Alexander furthers the sonic experimentation he embraced with 2022’s Origin. A prodigy discovered at age ten, the Indonesian-born pianist has only grown more impressive as he has matured. Just 20 years old at the time of this album’s recording, Alexander has developed into a nuanced soloist and composer whose style evokes the blend of his influences, from Bill Evans to Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. However, rather than simply coming off like a precocious young lion, on Continuance Alexander reveals himself to be an assured stylist in his own right. These are harmonically sophisticated recordings, peppered with swinging funk and soul vibes that nicely balance his own improvisatory explorations with empathetic, groove-oriented band interplay. They also find him moving beyond just the piano and weaving Fender Rhodes and even Mellotron into the mix. He’s also able to hold his own against slightly older players. Whereas Origin found him joined by saxophonist Chris Potter, here he communes with trumpeter Theo Croker whose Woody Shaw-esque, funk-jazz-informed style is a perfect foil for Alexander. Joining them are equally adept rhythm section associates in bassist Kris Funn (a longtime member of trumpeter Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah’s band) and drummer John Davis (who has played with everyone from Ben Williams and Marcus Strickland to Leslie Odom, Jr.). Together, they settle into the opening “Blue,” a kinetic number driven by Davis and Funn’s propulsive rat-a-tat rhythm over which Alexander and Croker take spiraling, bluesy solos. Equally engaging is “Hear Me Now,” in which Alexander contrasts a classical-influenced piano introduction with spacey Mellotron accents before Croker adds his own moody textures. We also get “Zealousy,” with its sun-dappled Fender Rhodes atmosphere bringing to mind Head Hunters-era Herbie Hancock. There’s a stylistically open-minded quality to much of the album, and Alexander’s songs have a nice balance of acoustic modal jazz, ’70s fusion, and the more hip-hop-informed aspects you find with many of his contemporaries like Croker. It’s a genre-open aesthetic that he seems to underline with his choice of covers, including a soulful trio reading of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and a gospel-inflected rendition of the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”
Matt Collar (AllMusic)
