AAPI artists score at Grammy Awards

Bruno Mars brought down the house with his tribute to the late Prince at the Grammy Awards.

NO DOUBT, one of these years Joey Alexander, the 13-year old jazz prodigy from Indonesia will win a Grammy; just not this year.

For the second year in a row, he was nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Album of the Year and the young pianist once again last night lost out to an older musician. Of course, all the Grammy nominees were older than Joey.

Yo Yo Ma won a Grammy for Sing Me Home with his Silk Road Ensemble. Among the ensemble members were several Asian Americans including Indian American tabla player Sandeep Das.

Producer Jhett Tolentino won in the category of Best Musical Theater Album with his Color Purple team which features Cynthia Erivo and Jennifer Hudson.

UPDATED: Earlier versions of this post did not include the wins of Yo Yo Ma and Jhett Tolentino.

Comedian Margaret Cho also lost out in her bid to win Comedy Album of the Year but she kept herself busy by being on the one of the hosts of the Grammys pre-show, which hands out awards in 75 categories before the main show aired on CBS later Sunday. 

She told winners they should keep their acceptance speeches to 45 seconds and to kiss their loved ones in the audience later because time was so tight. She instructed winners on how to hold their Grammys after their names are called.

She also told nominees to stay in their seats if they don't win and referenced rapper Kanye West, who famously interrupted Taylor Swift's speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Cho says, "Kanye's not here, so that will be fine."

During the awards show that was aired live on the east and west coasts, Bruno Mars was given two spots to perform. He did one of the songs from his new album "24K Magic," which will be eligible for a Grammy next year, and brought down the house with his tribute to Prince with an Prince-like guitar solo.

Throughout the show there were a few spots where performers made references to the current political environment and the need for the musicians and singers to use their art to counter the growing tide of hate, fear and xenophobia that is dividing the country. 

The surviving members of A Tribe Called Quest -- Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammadand Jarobi White -- linked up with Best New Artist nominee Anderson .Paak for a three-song medley that included the classic track "Award Tour" from Tribe's 1993 LP Midnight Marauders as well as new tracks "Movin Backwards"

They were joined by Busta Rhymes -- who thanked "President Agent Orange" -- and Consequence then joined the crew for "We the People," the single from the Tribe's We Got It From Here that got the crowd out of their seats..

While performing "We the People," as Tip hit the chorus ("All you black folks, you must go" and refer to "Chinese and Filipinos"), people of several different ethnicities began walking down the aisles, making the group's position on Donald Trump's proposed travel ban even more explicitly clear than it had been already. If that wasn't enough to clarify their position, they added the ending shouting, "Resist! ... Resist! ... Resist!"

Joey Alexander gets another shot at a Grammy

Joey Alexander in the studio recording "Countdown."

LAST YEAR, jazz pianist Joey Alexander became the youngest-ever Grammy nominee in a jazz category with nominations for best improvised jazz solo and best jazz instrumental album. 

He didn't take home the Grammy in either category but maybe he'll have better luck this year. The Indonesian wunderkind has  been nominated again - at the ripe, old age of 13 - in the improvised jazz solo category for his performance of "Countdown."

It is not a question of "if" he wins a Grammy, but "when." At his young age, he is still developing and improving and he's got a lot of albums in his future.

The self-taught Indonesian teen has been making wowing jazz aficionados from around the world since he was discovered by Herbie Hancock in a Jakarta jazz club three years ago.

RELATED: Who is Joey Alexander and why is he up for a Grammy?

Joey moved with his parents to New York in 2014, with the help of jazz luminaries like the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who calls Joey “my hero” on Facebook and with whom he now shares a manager.
When Joey performed last year at the Grammy Award show, it was the first time many in the audience heard him play. For his performance, he received a standing ovation.

The Grammy Awards will be handed out Feb. 12 next year at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Enjoy his performance below:

###

Bruno Mars, Joey Alexander, Phillipa Soo represent at the GRAMMY Awards

Kevin Winter

Mark Ronson, left, Jeff Bhasker, center, and Bruno Mars, right, accept "Record Of The Year" during the 58th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on Feb. 15, 2016 in Los Angeles.

HAWAII-BORN Bruno Mars also won the Big One, the Record of the Year, for his performance of Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk.

When Beyonce took the stage to give the award for Record of the Year, Bruno Mars did a brave thing. A stupid thing, but a brave thing. 

“Let's go, Beyonce. Let's do it!” he shouted BEFORE the winner was announced.Now if Bruno Mars had lost, he’d have egg all over his face. Instead, the Filipino/American entertainer just looked cool. 

* * *

JOEY ALEXANDER didn't win a Grammy but he got to perform in front of the nationwide audience watching the telecast of the music world's top awards show. Joey Alexander, at 12 years old, is the youngest Grammy nominee in the history of the awards.

The young Indonesian/American also performed at the Grammy Awards Premiere show which was not aired on network television.

In both instances the jazz prodigy received a standing ovation from some of the top musicians and singers in the world.

He was up for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo at this year’s ceremony but lost out to older, more experienced artists. We will most certainly be hearing more from him far into the future.

RELATED: Who is Joey Alexander and why is he up for a Grammy?

* * *

THE MULTI-RACIAL CAST of the Broadway hip-hop musical Hamilton, which included Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton blew away the audience with their performance of the opening number of the hit show. The musical starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, won in the category of Best Musical Theater Album.

The cast's acceptance was delivered in rhyme, written that night as the show went on. Watch it below. Fabulous.

UPDATED: Earlier versions did not include the Hamilton material.

For more news about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

TGIF FEATURE: 12-year old jazz prodigy may surprise everyone with a Grammy Award

Jazz prodigy Joey Alexander

JOEY ALEXANDER has the world at his fingertips.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the viewing audience won't be able to watch or hear 12-year old Joey perform and possibly receive his Grammy this Sunday (Feb. 14).

The Indonesian/American wunderkind has been nominated for two awards in the jazz categories. He'll be featured in the Premiere Ceremony, which won't be televised. 

The 2016 Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony, during which the first of the Grammy Awards’ numerous winners will be announced. Jidenna, Lianne La Havas, Keali’i Reichel, Maria Schneider, Anoushka Shankar and Jimmy Jam are all scheduled to help present trophies, while comedian Jay Mohr will host.

RELATED: Who is Joey Alexander and why is he up for a Grammy?

The 2016 Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony is scheduled to run from 3:30 p.m. ET until 6:30 p.m. ET, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, Calif. The ceremony will be streamed live via the Grammy Awards’ official website and CBS.com.

The regular 2016 Grammy Awards will air live on CBS on Feb. 15 beginning at 8 p.m. ET; 5 p.m. Pacific. Carrie Underwood, Sam Hunt and Little Big Town are among the star-studded list of performers scheduled for the televised broadcast.

Since his debut when he was just a 10-year old, Joey has amazed the jazz world. His piano playing and his ability to improvise with the best of the best is mind-blowing. 

When jazz great Wynton Marsalis first heard Joey Alexander play the piano, he was blown away. "I've never heard anyone who could play like him," he told Anderson Cooper on a 60 Minutes  piece aired last December.

For Marsalis, Joey's genius at such a young age remains a mystery. "Why? We don't know why," he tells Cooper. "I once asked Miles Davis about sound. 'Man, how you get the sound you get?' He said, 'Man, nobody knows about sound. Sound just is.' And I think that about his (Joey's) abilities. They are."

All I say after listening to this is: "Wow!"

IN OTHER GRAMMY NEWS: 

• Mark Ronson's and Filipino/American Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk" was nominated in three categories: Record of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Capella. Surprisingly, the Filipino/American pop artist's video was snubbed in the Grammy's Best Male Video category despite winning the MTV awards in the same category. Uptown Funk" has a good chance to win in one of these categories after spending 14 weeks as No. 1 in the Billboard charts. But don't count out Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" and "Bad Blood."

• RELATED: Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk

• The Filharmonics, the Filipino/American a cappella group from southern California, are featured in the movie Pitch Perfect 2, which is up for a Grammy in the Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media category.
• The King & and I 2015 cast album is up for Best Musical Theater Album and that features a host of Asian/American cast members.

For more news about Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News. 

The Grammys: Who is Joey Alexander and why is the 12-year old Indonesian/American up for an award?

Joey Alexander, with his mop of black hair and black-frame glasses, looks like any other Asian/American youngster, until ... he starts to play piano. 

OK, we had a pretty good inkling that Bruno Mars' performance on the catchy "Uptown Funk" would garner some nominations for the 2016 Grammys, but the big surprise announced this morning (Dec. 7) is Joey Alexander, whose first album won two nominations: Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo.

You see, Joey is all of 12-years old. At that tender young age, his amazing musical talent is wowing jazz fans and fellow musicians around the world.

(Let's be upfront here. I love music and I know of its impact and importance in our world, but I don't pretend to be an expert or knowledgeable about the music industry. My daughters laugh at my ignorance. So if you've already heard of this young man, I yield to your superior knowledge and I apologize as a johnny-come-lately fan.) 

One of the musicians who plays on the Grammy-nominated album "My Favorite Things" is drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. He's 32, and says that when he closes his eyes in the studio, he doesn't hear a kid. 

RELATED: Complete list of Grammy nominees

"I watched him close his eyes, and I watched his head kind of just bobbing to the side. He has this thing that he does when he's really going somewhere, and I was like, this is freakin' amazing," Owens says, laughing in amazement. "Watching this little kid, he's going on all these harmonic adventures and melodic adventures, and doing some really hip stuff. He's just gone, he's just completely in this next stratosphere. I'm like, that is a gift, man. This kid is literally from another planet."

Born and raised in Bali where his parents ran a travel business, the family moved to Jakarta so that the prodigy could play with Indonesia's best jazz musicians. That is where Herbie Hancock heard him. From there, word quickly spread in the jazz world.

Where did his talent come from? "Well, my dad played a little bit of piano and guitar, but not that professionally," Joey says. "I saw him play and (felt) like, 'I want to play. I want to try this instrument.'"

By age six, he was playing Thelonius Monk.

Joey's parents gave up their business and eventually moved the family to New Jersey so there son could pursue his music. When he's not performing, the young pianist is home-schooled. 

Despite his growing fanbase and the accolades he receives, he seems to have his head on straight, remaining humble and respectful. Like any other 12-year old, he also likes pop music — Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin and The Beatles.

"I'm still me," he says. "I play sports — like, I play a little bit of tennis, swimming, like a normal kid. I watch movies."

When you watch the Grammys on Feb. 15 next year, watch out for Joey. He might be sitting on a cushion. As an Indonesian youngster, he'll stand out in the auditorium full of seasoned music artists, but now he's part of that world. He belongs there. He belongs.

He doesn't want to be known as a child prodigy. "I just want to be called a jazz musician," he told Today Show hosts Lester Holt and Matt Lauer.

***

IN OTHER GRAMMY NEWS: 

• Mark Ronson's and Filipino/American Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk" was nominated in three categories: Record of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Capella.  Surprisingly, the Filipino/American pop artist's video was snubbed in the Grammy's Best Male Video category despite winning the MTV awards in the same category. 
• The Filharmonics, the Filipino/American a cappella group from southern California, are featured in Pitch Perfect 2, which is up for a Grammy in the Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media category.
• The King & and I 2015 cast album is up for Best Musical Theater Album and that features a host Filipino/American cast members including Conrad Rocamora and Jon Victor Corpuz.

###