*ETUDES FOR PIANO*
!OUT NOW!
07/03 – BIJLOKE, Ghent
10/03 – FLAGEY, Brussels (SOLD OUT)
17/03 – KAAP -Walburgakerk, Bruges
19/04 – DESINGEL, Antwerp
29/04 – jazzahead!, Bremen
“Stunningly original” – Downbeat Jazz Magazine
“Belgium is too small for pianist Alex Koo” – De Tijd
★ ★ ★ ★ – De Standaard
★ ★ ★ ★ – Le Soir
★ ★ ★ ★ – L’Echo
Despite his young age, Belgian-Japanese pianist & composer Alex Koo has already been hailed as a daring innovator and a rising star in the world of jazz & piano. His album Appleblueseagreen, with American icons Ralph Alessi and Mark Turner, was praised by Downbeat Jazz Magazine and included in their list of ‘Best Albums of 2019‘, with the mention “Stunningly original”. Domestically too, one blazing review upon another: “Belgium is too small for pianist Alex Koo” or “We are stunned”, published in De Tijd and Le Soir.
As a child he seemed destined for a career as a classical pianist. As a teenager however, he fell in love with jazz. In his newest album Etudes for Piano (W.E.R.F. records), commissioned by Bozar (Brussels), he merges his fondness for both worlds. Boldness and virtuosity go hand in hand with melancholy and… the surprising use of his elbows. His music is a marriage between the worlds of Debussy, Chopin, Reich, Rachmaninov on the one hand and the contemporary sounds of Keith Jarrett, Craig Taborn, Brian Eno and Philip Glass on the other. A mesmerizing storyteller on the piano.
I was a guest at Belgian national TV channel Canvas as a commentator for the Queen Elisabeth Competition for Piano.
Honored and grateful for the invitation.
Appleblueseagreen feat. Ralph Alessi and Mark Turner included in Downbeat Jazz Magazine‘s Best Albums of 2019!
★ ★ ★ ★ “Stunningly original ” – Downbeat Jazz Magazine
