Monty Alexander

Monty Alexander – Here Comes The Sun (1971/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · June 5, 2023 · Comments off

Not every musician can pull off a program in front of an audience that ranges through a wide variety of jazz styles, but Monty Alexander does so, even within the opener, “On Green Dolphin Street.” Starting this familiar standard in a bop mode, he detours into boogie-woogie until guitarist Ernest Ranglin takes over. His lovely improvised introduction to “Emily” gives way to a much slower than typical arrangement, which emphasizes the beauty of Henry Mancini’s original conception, though with a few changes incorporated by the leader. Alexander likely lifted a few eyebrows when he began playing Scott Joplin’s classic rag “The Entertainer.” After one straight-ahead chorus, he segues into a hard bop setting, trading hot licks with Ranglin. “Chameleon,” Herbie Hancock’s funk masterpiece from the fusion era, is next, but Alexander’s quartet eschews any electronic keyboards or special effects, just digging into it with gusto. The leader also contributed two strong originals to the date. Recorded for the German label MPS, this highly recommended LP is long overdue to be reissued.

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Monty Alexander – Harlem-Kingston Express Vol. 2: The River Rolls On (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · June 5, 2023 · Comments off

Throughout a career spanning six decades, the New York-based artist Monty Alexander has garnered acclaim for bridging American jazz, popular song, and the music of his native Jamaica. For the new album, Alexander convened the band for its first studio recordings—primarily at New York City’s Avatar and Dubway. “Commander ‘Zander’s” reggae-fied one-love groove jazz party continues in high studio style on this rock-steady follow up to his 2011 Grammy®-nominated, chart topping Harlem-Kingston Express volume 1. The piano genius enters his 70th year with this infectiously grooving reggae/jazz fusion studio project, featuring great live bonus tracks.

They perform a mix of Alexander originals (which are themselves steeped in both Caribbean music and American jazz and R&B) and Alexander interpretations of classics, from the soul hits “People Make the World Go Round” and “What’s Going On” (here with the alias “Wa’a Gwan”) to Jimmy Cliff’s reggae landmark “The Harder They Come.”

Harlem-Kingston Express Vol. 2: The River Rolls On at once encapsulates the current moment in Alexander’s singular career and finds him returning to its earlier stages: both his teenage years, when he played on sessions helmed by pioneering reggae producers Clement “Coxsone” Dodd, Duke Reid and Chris Blackwell, and his first decades in the U.S., when he had the occasion to record and perform with icons such as Frank Sinatra, Milt Jackson and Ray Brown, among countless others.

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Monty Alexander – Jamboree: Monty Alexander’s Ivory and Steel (1988) [Reissue 2003] MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

SACD / DSD By admin · May 30, 2023 · Comments off

Pianist Monty Alexander’s “Ivory And Steel” group combines together bop-based jazz with Jamaican calypsoes and West Indian rhythms. On this quite enjoyable set, Alexander utilizes both Othello and Len “Boogsie” Sharpe on steel drums, either Marshall Wood or Bernard Montgomery on bass, drummer Marvin “Smitty” Smith and the hand drums of Robert Thomas Jr. Alexander contributed four of the rhythmic originals which are joined by some Jamaican folk songs (including “Sly Mangoose”), Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” and a couple of obscurities. The accessible results are often memorable.

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Monty Alexander with Ernest Ranglin – Rocksteady (2004) MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

SACD / DSD By admin · May 30, 2023 · Comments off

Prior to becoming an ace mainstream jazz pianist in the U.S., native Jamaican Monty Alexander played on countless sessions at Studio One in Kingston — well before reggae, rocksteady, and even ska crossed the seas. Since 1998, secure in his jazz credentials, he has been reminding listeners of those roots, cranking out album after album and managing to unite jazz and reggae in a sometimes irresistible fusion. This time, Alexander reaches further back to pre-reggae Jamaican pop from the late ’60s/early ’70s, bringing along a guitar-slinging friend from the old days, Ernest Ranglin. On previous Jamaican-accented albums, Alexander sometimes sounded as if he was making an effort to hold back his prodigious technique in order to keep things simple. But here he sounds more comfortable paring down his playing to the basics while still throwing in an occasional sly quote or monster lick, now going more and more to his evocative melodica playing. Ranglin brings a brittle, staccato touch to everything he touches, and the rhythm section careens gently along, with only rare hints of a ska feel and without the overpowering dub-flavored bass of previous Alexander Jamaican outings like “Meets Sly and Robbie” and parts of “Goin’ Yard.” Desmond Dekker’s “Israelites,” one of the first genuine Jamaican hits in the U.S., moves and grooves much like the original while allowing for some jazz licks. Less well-known in America, perhaps, are some other choices like Ken Boothe’s “Freedom Street” and the Congos’ “Row Fisherman.” Moving up a bit on the time scale, Alexander and Ranglin include the Burning Spear signature tune “Marcus Garvey” and with heads bowed, they close the album with a dignified duo rendition of the Hon. Robert Nesta Marley’s “Redemption Song.” The six-channel surround mix on this hybrid SACD is simple and strikingly consistent, with Quentin Baxter’s drums and Junior Jazz’s scratching rhythm guitar coming from the rear channels, and Alexander, Ranglin, and occasional hand percussion coming from the front.

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Monty Alexander – My America (2002) MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

SACD / DSD By admin · May 28, 2023 · Comments off

Over his long recording and performing career, Monty Alexander has displayed an ability to excel with any jazz or related genre. From swing to bop and hard bop, from reggae to mainstream jazz, you name it and Alexander has done it and done it well. On his latest and fourth album for the Telarc label, the veteran pianist takes time to show his appreciation and gratitude to his adopted home, America, through a series of songs in honor of people and images that shaped his attitude toward this country, whether it be cowboy movies he used to see as a youngster in Jamaica or the impression made upon him by a variety of American performers, including Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, and others of like diversity. Nor has he forgotten his Caribbean roots with a highly rhythmic version of Al Green’s “Love and Happiness.” Alexander’s “Mack the Knife” is given a sort of gentile honky tonk burnish, while there is a bit of music hall piano in “Battle Hymn of the Republic” before he turns this patriotic song into a rousing swinger with gospel overtones. If this album needed a subtitle, it might be “Some of My Best Friends Are Singers,” picking up on the device successfully used by his once-playing partner, Ray Brown. Alexander is joined on four cuts by Freddy Cole, John Pizzarelli, Kevin Mahogany, and Cat. As good as this vocalizing is, it’s the infectious, bright playing of Alexander that lifts this album beyond the realm of the ordinary. Recommended.

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Monty Alexander – Monty Meets Sly and Robbie (2000) MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

SACD / DSD By admin · May 28, 2023 · Comments off

Jazz purists may turn up the nose at this jazz-reggae summit meeting, but that’s their loss. It’s not that they wouldn’t have the right to be suspicious – experiments in jazz-reggae fusion do not have a distinguished history. But the combination of Jamaican-born jazz pianist Monty Alexander and reggae godfathers Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare works beautifully here for a number of reasons: first of all, Alexander is a gifted melodist with an unerring sense of groove (not always a given with jazz players), and second of all, Sly and Robbie emancipated themselves long ago from reggae’s rhythmic strictures, so there’s lots of variety on this album. The grooves are never less than bone deep: on “Monty’s Groove,” Shakespeare’s minimalist bassline and Dunbar’s funky drumming propel Alexander into inspired (if a bit restrained) flights of improvisation, and “People Make the World Go ‘Round” is a slow, dark dancehall workout that gives Alexander’s piano lots of open space to work with. “Hot Milk,” the album’s closer, is a touching tribute to the late reggae organist Jackie Mittoo, on which Alexander plays mournful melodica over a modified rocksteady beat. There are times when you might wish Alexander would cut loose and wail a bit more, but this album is a delight from beginning to end.

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Monty Alexander – Monty Alexander: The Montreux Years (Live) (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · December 14, 2022 · Comments off

A compilation of some of Monty Alexander’s legendary live performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The Montreux Years is released on high quality audiophile heavyweight vinyl and includes brand new liner notes and rare photos from his Montreux shows.

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Monty Alexander – Love Notes (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · October 21, 2022 · Comments off

Love Notes, a brand-new album of eleven tracks with vocals and piano by Monty Alexander, is set for release on August 19th, 2022. The collection represents the culmination of Monty’s decades-long desire to record a vocal album after releasing 75 piano projects over the course of his illustrious, critically-acclaimed career.Said Monty, “My desire was emboldened ever since one of our great Jazz vocalists, Carmen McRae, heard me sing a tune at the end of a concert and told me “Don’t stop singing!”, admonishing me like a loving aunt would. That was back in the 1970s so it took me fifty years, and a century later, but I am glad to finally introduce Monty the vocalist, and this collection of love songs.”

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Monty Alexander Trio – Montreux Alexander – The Monty Alexander Trio Live at the Montreux Festival (1977/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · September 8, 2022 · Comments off

Whether in concert or a studio setting, Monty Alexander never ceases to communicate his joy and passion for jazz.

Captured live at the 1976 Montreux Festival on the shores of Lake Geneva, this recording best exemplifies Monty Alexander’s infectious joie de vivre and mastery of the eighty-eight keys.

Recently re-issued on the MPS imprint, this career-defining album features the Jamaican maestro in collaboration with the then little-known duo of bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton.

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Monty Alexander – Rass (Remastered) (2015/2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · September 8, 2022 · Comments off

Jamaican Monty Alexander is a man with two musical faces: many know him best as a piano virtuoso and heir to Oscar Peterson’s thrown. On Rass he is a master of electric keyboard jazz-funk heavily seasoned by the musical spices of his homeland. Recorded in Kingston in 1974 with ace local players, Rass features the legendary Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin, one of the musicians who helped mold the sound known as ska. Alexander covers two Al Greene soul classics, Let’s Stay Together and Love and Happiness. They mirror the sex and soul of the originals as well as dish out a taste of the island. Sly Mongoose, Yellow Bird, and Limbo are traditional Caribbean melodies played funky with calypso-reggae-ska inflections. Alexander and Ranglin exhibit effortless give-and-take interspersed with exploratory solos over a funky foundation. By the way, Rass! is an all-purpose Jamaican expletive: “Rass, dot som funky music, mon”.

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Monty Alexander – Calypso Blue: The Songs Of Nat King Cole (2008) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · September 7, 2021 · Comments off

Monty Alexander – Calypso Blue: The Songs Of Nat King Cole (2008)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 56:05 minutes | 1,17 GB | Genre: Jazz
Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital booklet

Monty Alexander follows up his tribute to Tony Bennett with an homage to another classic jazz singer, Nat King Cole. Also recorded in New York City at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church with the same trio of Chicagoans Lorin Cohen on bass and drummer George Fludas, the veteran pianist seems more in his element with this artist’s repertoire, one that sharply defined his own sound and thinking about popular jazz. Though all of the tunes selected are not so closely linked to Cole’s hit parade songbook, the way Alexander plays them with subtlety and depth does reflect what made Cole the king in the late ’50s and early ’60s. With the immaculate sound and performance by this fine trio–not to mention that they don’t play Cole’s songbook by rote or by the numbers–it’s hard to fault the effort, heart, and soul behind a concept album that should delight many jazz listeners. (more…)

Monty Alexander – Cobilimbo (1978/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · February 15, 2017 · Comments off

Monty Alexander long ago combined together the influence of Oscar Peterson with the soul of Gene Harris and Nat “King” Cole to form his own appealing and personable style. Long a bit underrated (due to the shadow of Peterson), Alexander has recorded more than a score of excellent albums. Monty Alexander began piano lessons when he was six and he played professionally in Jamaican clubs while still a teenager; his band, Monty and the Cyclones, was quite popular locally during 1958-1960. He first played in the U.S. when he appeared in Las Vegas with Art Mooney’s Orchestra. Soon he was accompanying a variety of top singers, formed a friendship with vibraphonist Milt Jackson, and began gigging with bassist Ray Brown. With the recording of a pair of Pacific Jazz albums in 1965, an RCA date in 1967, and a Verve session in 1969, Alexander began to gain a strong reputation. His series of exciting albums for MPS during 1971-1977 found him in prime form, and his recordings in the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s found him building on his original style. Alexander, who often pays tribute to his Jamaican heritage, performs regularly with his own trio and swings hard in his own voice. ~~Artist Biography by Scott Yanow

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Monty Alexander, Ray Brown and Herb Ellis – Trio (1981) [ADVD Reissue 2003] {FLAC 24bit/96kHz}

DVD-A By admin · June 27, 2016 · Comments off

Monty Alexander, Ray Brown and Herb Ellis – Trio (1981)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:16 minutes | 781 MB
Source: ADVD, Reissue 2003 | Front/Rear cover

“It would be an over-simplification to characterize the group you are about to hear (or are perhaps now hearing) simply as the old Oscar Peterson Trio with Monty Alexander replacing the leader,” writes Leonard Feather in his liner notes to this album, after acknowledging that both bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis used to be part of the Peterson group. He’s right, of course, but it also would be incorrect to say there isn’t at least a feel of that earlier drum-less ensemble in this one. The chief difference, of course, is that the Jamaica-born Alexander is not Peterson; although less of his rhythmic flair is on display here than on other dates, he has his own personality, and it is far showier than Peterson’s. A second major difference is that Peterson was the leader of his trio and, as Feather also points out, “this is essentially a three-way partnership” in which each member gets to contribute more or less equally. The selections are a mixture of standards, most of them typical jazz springboards (though the 1940s pop hit “To Each His Own” seems to be new to the medium) with a Brown original and showcase, “Blues for Junior,” and another original, “Captain Bill,” that contains associations with Count Basie. Whether playing fast or slow, the three musicians interact well together, the younger Alexander holding his own with his veteran partners. (more…)