Joey Alexander – Warna: The $14 Gatefold That Redefines Teen G...

What Makes a Teenage Prodigy's 2020 Gatefold More Than Just a Pretty Package?

Here's the short version: Warna is Joey Alexander's most compositionally ambitious outing to date-twelve originals (eleven written by Alexander himself, one by Gordon Sumner, better known as Sting) spread across a European-pressed double LP that landed in January 2020. Recorded when Alexander was just 16, it showcases Larry Grenadier on bass and Kendrick Scott on drums, with Anne Drummond's flute and Luisito Quintero's percussion coloring the edges. The Discogs data tells you it's a contemporary jazz and free improv hybrid. The reality is it's a kid who grew up on Kind of Blue and decided to paint with broader strokes.

Here's what collectors care about: 370 people own it, 63 want it, and the lowest market price sits at $6. That's a 5.87:1 have-to-want ratio, which means it's not scarce-but it's not dismissed either. It's a record people keep. The gatefold's clean, the pressing's European, and Verve gave it a proper vinyl treatment at a time when most labels were still phoning it in on 180g vanity projects. At $14.49 on MilesWaxey.com, you're paying for sound and intent, not hype.

Why Should Anyone Care About a 2020 Release in a Vintage-Obsessed Market?

Because it's proof that contemporary jazz isn't dead-it's just not being made by the usual suspects. Alexander's been on the Grammy stage since he was 11. He's charted on the Billboard 200. He's the first Indonesian musician to do either. But that's trivia. What matters is the music holds up without the novelty. You can throw this on next to a Tyner session or a McCoy set and it won't embarrass itself. It breathes. It listens back. It doesn't sound like a streaming playlist trying to be vinyl.

The record also exists in a weird collector sweet spot. It's not old enough to be a grail. It's not new enough to feel like chasing a trend. It's the kind of thing serious listeners grab when they realize they've been ignoring the present tense for too long. And at this price, there's no gamble. You're not dropping rent money on a mono original with a seam split. You're spending less than a couple pints to see if a teenager's vision translates to wax. Spoiler: it does.

Tracklist & Stream Anchor

Full Tracklist:

• A1. Warna (6:45)
• A2. Mosaic (Of Beauty) (5:12)
• A3. Lonely Streets (5:34)
• B1. Downtime (4:26)
• B2. Affirmation I (3:46)
• B3. Inner Urge (7:16)
• C1. We Here (5:24)
• C2. Tis Our Prayer (4:09)
• C3. Fragile (4:36)
• D1. Our Story (5:50)
• D2. Affirmation III (5:48)
• D3. The Light (3:39)

Start the stream. Let the atmosphere settle before we look at the wax.

Where This Record Takes You

This record feels like early morning light in a room with good windows, driven by space and restraint rather than flash. Alexander's piano tone is clean but not sterile-there's warmth in the attack, a slight woody resonance that suggests he's not fighting the instrument, just letting it speak. The rhythm section (Grenadier and Scott) doesn't grandstand. They lock in, lay back, and leave room for the melodies to stretch. You get the sense they're all listening to each other, not just reading charts.

The production captures intimacy without claustrophobia. There's air around the instruments-enough reverb to suggest a real room, but not so much that it becomes a gimmick. Anne Drummond's flute enters like a guest who knows when to speak, and Luisito Quintero's percussion adds texture without turning into a travelogue. The stereo spread is wide enough to make headphones worthwhile, but it's not one of those hyper-separated mixes where the drummer lives in another state.

Standout moments: the title track "Warna" (which means "color" in Indonesian) opens with a cascading piano figure that feels like a thesis statement-melodic, patient, and unafraid of silence. "Inner Urge" at 7:16 is the centerpiece, a slow-burn exploration that earns its length. "Fragile" lives up to its name with a delicate touch that never tips into sentimentality. And "The Light," the closer, resolves the whole arc without feeling like a bow tied too tight.

Best use case: Late afternoon when you're reading something that requires attention but not stress. Or cooking something simple-risotto, maybe-where you need rhythm but not distraction. This isn't background music, but it's not demanding either. It rewards focus without punishing multitasking.

Pair it with black tea and a long evening walk-it amplifies the record's reflective, unhurried quality. Or if you're staying in, a glass of something clean (mezcal, maybe a low-intervention white) while you reorganize your jazz section.

The Nerd Sheet: Why the Numbers Tell a Quiet Story

Let's talk about what Discogs reveals. The master release page shows 370 collectors who own it and 63 who want it. That 5.87:1 ratio isn't screaming "holy grail," but it's not languishing in the dollar bin either. It's the ratio of a record that people keep once they buy it. The community rating of 4.48 out of 5 (based on 31 ratings) suggests those who engage with it actually like it. No one's calling it a masterpiece, but no one's calling it overrated either.

Market velocity? Steady and unspectacular. The lowest price is $6, which tells you supply is decent. The median hovers around $10-$14, which is where it should be for a 2020 Verve pressing. No flippers are circling. No "investment opportunity" hype. It's just a good record that sells for what it's worth, which in a collector market full of inflated nonsense, feels almost radical.

Now, the listening lineage. Alexander isn't borrowing from anyone in an obvious way, but you can hear the influences-McCoy Tyner's harmonic openness, Keith Jarrett's melodic patience, Brad Mehldau's post-bop introspection. The title track "Warna" has a vamp that echoes Herbie Hancock's modal explorations on Maiden Voyage, not in structure but in spirit-the way it circles a tonal center without locking into a rigid progression. Musicians gravitate to that kind of ambiguity because it leaves room for reinterpretation. You could imagine a tenor player lifting that phrase and reharmonizing it into something entirely different.

"Inner Urge" (not to be confused with Joe Henderson's standard of the same name) has a rhythmic pocket that feels like a conversation between Elvin Jones and Tony Williams-it swings without being locked to a grid, and there's a looseness to the time that invites improvisation. That's the kind of passage that sticks with other players. It's not flashy, but it's usable. And in jazz, usability is currency.

The session synergy here is worth noting. Larry Grenadier and Kendrick Scott have logged serious hours together, both in their own projects and as sidemen for heavyweights. Grenadier's been the anchor for Brad Mehldau's trio for decades; Scott's led his own bands and played with Terence Blanchard and Charles Lloyd. When Alexander brought them into the studio, he wasn't hiring strangers-he was tapping into a rhythm section that could communicate in half-sentences. That cohesion shows up in the recording. There's no audible seam between composed and improvised sections. It just flows.

According to the album's Wikipedia entry, Warna represents Alexander's shift toward fully original material after earlier albums that featured standards and covers. That's significant. It's one thing to play "My Favorite Things" at 11 years old and make people pay attention. It's another to write twelve tunes at 16 and have them hold up under scrutiny. The fact that he pulled it off-and that Verve gave him the gatefold treatment-suggests the label saw this as a statement record, not just a prodigy's stopgap.

The Session History: Who Was in the Room?

Recorded in 2019 (released January 2020), Warna was cut with a core trio-Alexander on piano, Larry Grenadier on acoustic bass, Kendrick Scott on drums-plus Anne Drummond on flute and Luisito Quintero on percussion for select tracks. The session was helmed by Joey Alexander himself as the primary composer (eleven out of twelve tracks), with production management by Tom Arndt and creative direction by Joe Spix. Jacob Lerman handled design, Meredith Truax shot the photography, and Joe Nino-Hernes cut the lacquer. That's a tight, focused team for a major-label release, which often means the artist had real input on the final product.

The "happy accident" on this record isn't a flubbed take or a last-minute composition-it's the fact that Alexander wrote "Fragile" (a Sting cover, written by Gordon Sumner) into the sequence at all. For a kid known for jazz chops and original material, dropping a pop ballad into the mix could've been a misstep. Instead, it works because he treats it like a standard-strips it down, reharmonizes it subtly, and lets Drummond's flute carry some of the emotional weight. It's a risk that pays off because it doesn't feel like pandering. It feels like a smart arranger making a choice.

The sideman stat that matters: Larry Grenadier. By the time he stepped into this session, he'd already recorded over 100 albums as a sideman and logged thousands of hours on the road with Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny, and Charles Lloyd. That's a bassist who doesn't need to prove anything. His presence on Warna signals that Alexander was taken seriously by the New York scene, not just treated like a novelty. Grenadier's tone here-resonant, woody, anchored-gives the whole record a foundation that feels lived-in rather than constructed.

You can grab a copy of Warna from the Miles Waxey bins here. At $14.49, you're getting a European gatefold pressing that sounds better than the streaming version and costs less than two cocktails. It's a no-brainer for anyone who's been sleeping on contemporary jazz because they assume it's all elevator music or academic exercises.

The Technical Scrutiny: What You're Actually Hearing

Let's talk about what's in the grooves. This is a European pressing from 2020, cut by Joe Nino-Hernes. The lacquer work is clean-no audible sibilance on the high end, no muddiness in the low mids. The soundstage is wide without being gimmicky. Piano sits center, bass slightly left, drums slightly right, with flute and percussion entering from stage left when they appear. It's a natural stereo spread that doesn't sound like it was EQ'd to death in post-production.

The transient snap on the drums is present but not exaggerated. You can hear the stick attack on the ride cymbal, but it's not hyped into something artificial. The bass has weight without booming-there's definition in the lower register, and Grenadier's walking lines come through with clarity. The piano tone is bright but warm, which suggests a good mic placement and a room that wasn't overdamped. There's just enough ambient room tone to make it feel like a live session rather than a studio construct.

Floor noise? Minimal. No hiss, no crackle on a clean copy, no weird pressing artifacts. The European plant (likely in Germany or the Czech Republic, based on Verve's usual suppliers) did a solid job. This isn't audiophile-grade wax in the Blue Note RVG sense, but it's not a casualty either. It's a modern pressing that respects the medium without fetishizing it.

Frequency response: balanced. The low end doesn't overwhelm the mids, and the highs don't splinter into harshness. You could play this on a modest turntable setup and still hear what's happening, or you could run it through a high-end rig and pick up the micro-details. That's the mark of a good mastering job-it scales.

Mood-wise, this is an evening record. Not late-night melancholy, but that golden-hour zone when the day's unwinding and you're not quite ready for bed. Pair it with bourbon (something with a bit of rye bite, like Rittenhouse or Old Forester) or a clean white wine if that's more your speed. It's also a solid companion for cooking-risotto, slow-roasted vegetables, anything that requires patience and attention but not stress. The tempo never rushes you, and the dynamics never demand you stop what you're doing. It just sits in the room and lets you decide how much attention to give it.

Context & Afterlife: The Kid Who Showed Up Early

Joey Alexander's story is well-documented but worth restating. Born Josiah Alexander Sila on June 25, 2003, in Bali, Indonesia, he's the first Indonesian musician to perform at the Grammy Awards and the first to chart on the Billboard 200 (his album My Favorite Things debuted at 174, peaked at 59). According to his Wikipedia page, he was mentored by his father in jazz piano from an early age-no Berklee degree, no conservatory pedigree, just a kid who listened to Monk and Trane and figured it out.

By the time Warna landed in 2020, Alexander was 16 and had already released multiple albums on Motéma Records and Verve. The shift to all-original material was intentional. Earlier records leaned heavily on standards-"My Favorite Things," "Giant Steps," "Round Midnight"-which showcased his chops but didn't reveal much about his compositional voice. Warna is where that voice starts to clarify. It's not derivative. It's not trying to sound like a 70-year-old Blue Note session. It's a teenager making sense of what he's absorbed and filtering it through his own experience.

Cultural afterlife? Still being written. The record hasn't been heavily sampled (yet), but it's been embraced by educators and younger listeners who want jazz that doesn't feel like homework. It's on Spotify playlists next to Robert Glasper and Kamasi Washington, which tells you it's being positioned as part of the contemporary jazz continuum rather than a nostalgic throwback. That's the right framing. Alexander isn't trying to resurrect the past. He's building on it.

Collector's Corner: The Final Audit

Here's the bang-for-your-buck reality: there's no "original pressing" mystique here because the record is four years old. The European pressing is the pressing. It's not a reissue, it's not a remaster, it's just the album. And that's fine. You're not chasing down a West 63rd label or a Plastylite stamp. You're buying a record that sounds like it should for what it is.

At $14.49 on MilesWaxey.com, you're paying retail for a gatefold double LP that would cost you more if you bought it new from a shop (if you could find it). The Discogs median sits around $10-$14, so you're in range. The lowest is $6, but that's likely a dinged copy or someone dumping inventory. A clean copy at this price is a fair deal.

Should you skip this and hunt for something older? Depends on what you're after. If you want the thrill of the dig and the bragging rights of an OG pressing, go chase a Blue Note or a Prestige. If you want to hear what contemporary jazz sounds like when it's done right-when it's not overproduced or committee-approved-grab this. It's proof that good music doesn't need a 60-year pedigree to be worth your time.

What's the Most Underrated Track on This Double LP?

"Tis Our Prayer" (C2) doesn't get the shine it deserves. It's only 4:09, which makes it one of the shorter cuts, but it's also one of the most compositionally tight. Alexander builds a simple, almost hymn-like theme and then lets the trio expand it without overcomplicating. There's a restraint here that a lot of young composers don't have-the discipline to let a melody breathe instead of piling on harmonic complexity to prove something. It's the kind of track that rewards repeated listens because the structure is deceptively simple. You think you've heard it, and then you realize you haven't.

Grab one of our curated copies of Warna by Joey Alexander in the Miles Waxey bins here. At this price, it's an easy add to the stack-and if you've been ignoring the present tense of jazz because you're too busy chasing the past, this is a good place to recalibrate.