A capacity crowd at Chez Nous Café in Redwood City cheered 16-year-old jazz pianist Alex Makeev on September 17 while he took charge of the bandstand as part of the popular Scott Dailey Trio. Makeev, a Belmont resident and junior at Carlmont High School, wowed the audience with imaginative solos on jazz standards including “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “On Green Dolphin Street” and “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars.”
A former student of Dailey’s, Makeev shared accolades with Gavin Westland of San Carlos, another Dailey protégé who last month began music studies at the University of Washington. Dailey quipped that rising young musicians such as Makeev and Westland had moved him to trade jazz piano for the clarinet. Singer Bernadette Soubirou exchanged wisecracks with Dailey while bassist Gary Rosen attempted to maintain an air of artistic professionalism.
