Nate Chinen for WBGO – If you happened to be wandering the streets of upper Manhattan one night this winter, you could have stumbled onto a video shoot for pianist Joey Alexander.
The video — for a version of “Moment’s Notice,” by John Coltrane — features an intepretive performance by dancer Jared Grimes, with Joey and a boombox on the sidelines.
The director is Yas Rowan, who has worked on several of Joey’s previous videos. He came up with the premise for the shoot after considering a suggestion from Joey’s father and manager, Denny Sila. “I knew all we needed was the right dancer, and the right location, after that everything would come together, and it did,” Rowan says. “Jared was a no-brainer. He had the right style, the right look, and he had the talent. He was perfect. He liked the piece, he wasn’t intimidated by the idea of improvising, and he was very excited about the whole project.”
“The location was a bit more difficult,” Rowan adds. “I spent a couple of days trekking all over the city to find the right spot.” What he settled on was a spot beneath Riverside Drive, where an overpass connects Manhattanville to Hamilton Heights.
Rowan’s direction to Grimes was minimal. “My goal was to get him to feel and not overthink,” he says. “Once I explained to him that Lindy hop was just the platform, and that he was free to use any style he need to express the music, he took off with it, and he nailed it. 100% improvised. He didn’t even get the cut of the song until the night before. And it was freezing that night. He was a real trouper.”