Published on Jul 5, 2013

“All under the age of 16, brothers Jonny, Robbie and Tommy Mizzone are from New Jersey, a US state that’s better known for the rock of Bruce Springsteen than the bluegrass of Earl Scruggs. Nonetheless, the siblings began performing bluegrass covers, as well as their own compositions, at a young age. Here, they play three dazzling songs in three different keys, passing the lead back and forth from fiddle to banjo to guitar.”

From Will Kahn

Ran across this last night on Netflix, and is it good! It also seems to be available on Amazon. I knew about Muscle Shoals, but never put it all together. Excellent documentary about background musicians for some incredible singers and songs.

If you happen to watch it, listen to what Rick Hall says at the end, about imperfection.  He says that in the studio there will sometimes be mistakes. Like the drummer might drop his sticks, “…but it’s OK with me if he gets right back into the beat.” Then he says something like we need more imperfection in recording, meaning the human element in this digital world. Warmth of vinyl vs. sterility of digital. (There will be people who know exactly what I mean here.)

Article in New York Times article on Joey May 13, 2015 by Nate Chinen: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/13/arts/music/joey-alexander-an-11-year-old-jazz-sensation-who-hardly-clears-the-pianos-sightlines.html

(I’m not sure if you can access all NYT articles without being a subscriber.)

“…Joey began playing piano at 6, picking out a Thelonious Monk tune by ear, which led Mr. Sila, an amateur pianist, to teach him some fundamentals. Beyond that, Joey recalled, ‘I heard records, and also YouTube, of course.’

He played at jam sessions in Bali and then in Jakarta, when his family moved there. At 8, he played for the pianist Herbie Hancock, who was in Jakarta as a Unesco good-will ambassador. (‘You told me that you believed in me,’ Joey recalled last fall, addressing Mr. Hancock at a gala for the Jazz Foundation of America, ‘and that was the day I decided to dedicate my childhood to jazz.’) He was 9 when he entered the first Master-Jam Fest, an all-ages jazz competition in Ukraine. He won its grand prize.

Soon one of his YouTube videos caught the notice of Mr. Marsalis, artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, who invited him to appear at the organization’s 2014 gala. Joey played a solo version of the Monk ballad ‘Round Midnight’ as the finale, earning a standing ovation, glowing reviews and some influential supporters.…”