Pianist/Composer, Tom Alexander was born into a musical family. His mother, Mary, sang on the radio with her sisters during the big band era in the Washington DC area, and his father, Peter, was a devotee of classical music. His father’s younger brother, Taki, a fine jazz pianist and drummer, showed Tom how to navigate around the keyboard early on. Having grown up in his family’s movie theatre business, Tom was exposed to film and music from a very early age, and the soundtracks to movies were an early influence. Backstage, behind the theatre screen, was a piano his uncle played frequently. This piqued Tom’s interest in the instrument, and the piano soon wound up in the basement of his home. He began formal lessons at age 9, but soon grew tired of conventional music study, relying more in his ear.
He played in rock and blues bands in high school, but after being exposed to the progressive sounds of fusion jazz, his musical life changed forever.
“Once I heard Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, Pat Metheny, all those guys, it was over…a total game changer,” Tom said. “I knew then that’s what I wanted to do with music.”
After his family’s theatre closed early in 1988, Tom worked in radio and television production. He continues to work in that industry to this day as a writer, broadcaster, producer, and voiceover actor. However, music is his passion. He’s scored two motion pictures, multiple commercials, and produced four albums.
He continues to compose music for solo piano and collaborative projects, as well as his band, Earth Code.
