Joe the Pianist at the Park Avenue
Story and photograph by Robert Lorimor
Joe the Pianist appears aware of my arrival when I enter the Park Avenue @ 22 lobby lounge and appears to pause to smile as I stand listening to him for the first time. Yet I believe he did not hear me or see me arrive. Quietly, I take a chair in the lounge and he continues to play Frank Sinatra’s My Way on the piano. Though he does not sing, he is a 23-year-old jazz pianist who has just the right touch of taste and feel and plays like someone who really cares about how each note should sound.
And there is something special about Joe — he is totally blind.
During his break I am introduced to the young keyboard wizard. His real name is Joe Napadon and a nice young man he is too. He speaks English and tells me he was born in Bangkok where he learned to play the piano from the age of seven. He still remembers the day when he told his mother about his wish to play the piano. “My mother was very supportive,” he says.
Today, he has already made four recordings with R.S. Promotions in Thailand and you can find his CD’s for sale at Carrefour, Lotus and Central shopping stores throughout Bangkok. I was also able to find his CDs available at eThaiCD.com. His CDs include, Joe the Pianist – Joe by Night, Joe the Pianist – Joe by Day, Joe the Pianist – Space, Joe the Pianist – Deep. His first two CD cover photographs show him wearing a hat, which Joe finds amusing because he never wears a hat. The hat makes him look like Frank Sinatra but to hear Joe play on these CDs reminds you of the late, great jazz piano legend Bill Evans, which is quite a compliment.
I ask him how he is able to find his way around the keys when he cannot see them. He smiles and tells me: “Middle C is the 24th key.” And from that base he counts his way to the rest of the notes he needs. Once he knows where middle C is, he virtually knows by instinct the location of every other key. For this ability, he credits his teachers at Bangkok School for the Blind.
He grew up listening to the radio and family records and to learn a new song, he must listen to the song repeatedly, trying new phrases on the keyboard one at a time until he has the entire song down. It usually only takes him one day to learn a new piece, and once he has, he needs only to remember the song by locking on the melody.
Joe practices every day. “To improve and shine, you have to love playing very much,” he smiles. You only need to see him beam as he plays to see how much he loves to play. Go check this gifted young guy out before the bigger jazz world steals him away from us!
Joe the Pianist plays Sundays from 5 pm to 10 pm at the Hotel Park Avenue@22 on Sukhumvit Soi 22 in Bangkok.