Alex Koo

The Belgian-Japanese keyboard wizard Alex Koo seemed destined for a career as a classical concert pianist but, as a teenager, he was blown away by jazz. Driven by his passion, he relocated to New York to study, ultimately graduating from the famous NYU Steinhardt. He encountered jazz greats including Mark Turner and Ralph Alessi, with whom he released the album 'Applebueseagreen’ in 2019; this was promptly included in the prestigious list of Best Albums of 2019 from the legendary Downbeat Jazz Magazine with the words "stunningly original”. In his own country, too, one raving review followed another. De Tijd thinks Belgium is too small for Alex Koo, while Le Soir could only respond with amazement to the talent of the pianist.

With his brand new 'Etudes for Piano’, composed on behalf of Bozar Brussel and released on W.E.R.F. Records, he combines his love of the worlds of both jazz and classic. Boldness and virtuosity go hand in hand with melancholy and… the surprising use of his elbows (as any one who knows Koo will recognise). His music sounds like a marriage between Debussy, Chopin, Reich and Rachmaninov on the one hand and Keith Jarrett, Craig Taborn, Brian Eno and Philip Glass on the other. 'It centres around friction, in order to lean back and then push forwards. The inner rhythm of man; that’s what I want to hear’, says Koo. A confirmed storyteller on the piano.