Monty Alexander
Birth name Montgomery Bernard Alexander
Born 6 June 1944
Kingston, Jamaica
Genres Jazz, reggae
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Piano, melodica
Montgomery Bernard “Monty” Alexander (6 June 1944, Kingston, Jamaica) is a jazz pianist who sings and plays the melodica. His playing has a Caribbean influence and bright swinging feeling, with a strong vocabulary of bebop and soulful blues melodies. He was influenced by Oscar Peterson, Erroll Garner, Les McCann, Ahmad Jamal, and Wynton Kelly. Alexander is known for his surprise musical twists and the ability to build dramatic suspense in his playing.
Alexander discovered the piano when he was four years old, took classical music lessons at the age of six and became interested in jazz piano at the age of 14, and began playing in clubs, and on recording sessions by Clue J & His Blues Blasters, deputising for Aubrey Adams, whom he describes as his hero, when he was unable to play. Two years later, he directed a dance orchestra (Monty and the Cyclones) and played in the local clubs. Performances at the Carib Theater in Jamaica by Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole left a strong impression on the young pianist.
Alexander and his family moved to Miami, Florida, in 1961. He went to New York City in 1962, where he started to play at Jilly Rizzo’s jazz club Jilly’s. In addition to performing with Frank Sinatra there, Alexander also met and became friends with bassist Ray Brown and vibist Milt Jackson. In California, in 1964, Alexander recorded his first album, Alexander the Great, for Pacific Jazz at the age of 20.
Alexander recorded with Milt Jackson in 1969, with Ernest Ranglin in 1974 and in Europe the same year with Ed Thigpen. He toured regularly in Europe and recorded there, mostly with his classic trio for MPS Records. He also toured around 1976 with the steelpan player Othello Molineaux. Alexander has also played with several singers such as Ernestine Anderson, Mary Stallings and other important leaders (Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson, Jimmy Griffin and Frank Morgan). In his successive trios, he has played frequently with musicians associated with Oscar Peterson: Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Mads Vinding, Ed Thigpen and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.
In the mid-1970s he formed a group consisting of John Clayton on bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums, creating a stir on the jazz-scene in Europe. Their most famous collaboration is Montreux Alexander, recorded during the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1976.
Alexander formed a reggae band in the 1990s, featuring all Jamaican musicians. He has released several reggae albums, including Yard Movement (1996), Stir It Up (1999, a collection of Bob Marley songs), Monty Meets Sly & Robbie (2000), and Goin’ Yard (2001). He collaborated again with Ranglin in 2004 on the album Rocksteady.
Alexander married the American jazz guitarist Emily Remler in 1981. They divorced in 1985. Alexander is married to Italian jazz singer Caterina Zapponi.Y
Discography
As leader
Monty Alexander (1965)
Spunky (1965, Pacific Jazz)
Alexander the Great (Pacific Jazz, 1965)
Zing (1967, RCA)
This Is Monty Alexander (1969, Verve)
Taste of Freedom (1970)
Here Comes the Sun (1971, MPS)
We’ve Only Just Begun (1973, MPS)
Perception (1974, MPS)
Rass! with Ernest Ranglin (1974, MPS)
Love & Sunshine (1974, MPS)
Unlimited Love (1975, MPS)
Montreux Alexander (1976, MPS)
Cobilimbo with Ernest Ranglin (1977, MPS)
Estade (1978, MPS)
Jamento (1978, Fantasy)
So What? (1979, The Black & Blue Sessions)
The Way It Is (1979, recorded 1976, MPS)
Summerwind (1980, Jeton/Polygram)
Monty Alexander – Ernest Ranglin (1981, MPS)
Fingering (1981, Atlas)
Look Up (1982)
Duke Ellington Songbook (1983, MPS)
Reunion in Europe (1984, Concord Jazz)
Full Steam Ahead (1985, Concord Jazz)
Friday Night (1987, Limetree)
Triple Treat II (1987, Concord Jazz)
Ivory & Steel (1988)
Triple Treat III (1989, Concord Jazz)
Saturday Night (1999, Timeless)
The River (1990, Concord Jazz)
Live in Holland (1992, EmArcy)
Carbbean Circle (1993, Chesky)
Live at Maybeck (1994, Concord Jazz)
Steamin’ (1995, Concord Jazz)
Yard Movement (1995, Island)
Maybeck Recital Hall Series, Vol. 40 (1995, Concord)
To Nat with Love (1995, Mastermix)
Ivory and Steal (1996, Concord Picante)
Facets (1996, Concord) with Ray Brown & Jeff Hamilton
Overseas Special (1996, Concord) with Ray Brown and Herb Ellis
Echoes of Jilly’s (1997, Concord)
Reunion in Europe (1997, Concord) with John Clayton & Jeff Hamilton
The Concord Jazz Heritage Series (1998, Concord Jazz)
Stir It Up – The Music of Bob Marley (1999, Telarc)
Threesome (1999, Soul Note) with Grady Tate & Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen
Ballad Essentials (2000, Concord Jazz)
Island Grooves (2000, Concord Jazz)
Monty Meets Sly & Robbie (2000, Telarc)
Triple Treat (2001, Concord Jazz)
Goin’ Yard (2001, Telarc)
Many Rivers to Cross (2001, Meldac)
Caribbean Duet (2001, Sound Hills) with Michel Sardaby
My America (2002, Telarc)
Triple Scoop (2002, Concord Jazz) with Ray Brown and Herb Ellis
Rhapsody in Blue (Telarc)
Jamboree (2003, Concord)
Li’l Darlin (2003, Absord Japan)
Straight Ahead (2003, Concord) with Ray Brown and Herb Ellis
Steaming Hot (2004, Concord)
Zing (2004, BMG)
In Tokyo (2004, Fantasy)
Rocksteady (2004, Telarc) with Ernest Ranglin
Live at the Iridium (2005, Telarc)
Jazz Calypso (2005, JVC)
Concrete Jungle: The Songs of Bob Marley (2006, Telarc)
The Way It Is (2006)
Impressions in Blue (2008, Telarc)
The Good Life: Monty Alexander Plays the Songs of Tony Bennett (2008, Chesky)
Solo (2008, Jeton)
Taste of Freedom (2008, Universal Japan)
Calypso Blues: The Songs of Nat King Cole (2009, Chesky)
Uplift (2011, Jazz Legacy)[8]
Love Me Tender (Venus, 2011)
Harlem – Kingston Express Live! (2011, Motéma)
Uplift 2 (2013, Jazz Legacy)[9]
Harlem-Kingston Express, Vol. 2: River Rolls On (Motéma, 2014)
As sideman
With Milt Jackson
That’s the Way It Is (Impulse!, 1969)
Just the Way It Had to Be (Impulse!, 1969)
Soul Fusion (Pablo 1977)
Montreux ’77
A London Bridge (Pablo, 1982)
Memories of Thelonious Sphere Monk (Pablo, 1982)
Mostly Duke (Pablo, 1982)
With Ray Brown
1979 Live at the Concord Jazz Festival
1982 Ray Brown Vol. 3
1988 Summer Wind: Live at the Loa
2002 Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, & Russell Malone
2003 Walk On
With Ernest Ranglin
Ranglypso (MPS, 1974)
Below the Bassline (Universal, 1996)
Rocksteady (2004)
Order of Distinction (2007)
With others
1971 Smackwater Jack, Quincy Jones
1977 Dizzy Gillespie Montreux Jam, Dizzy Gillespie
1979 Somewhere in My Lifetime, Phyllis Hyman
1980 Royal Blue, Marshal Royal
1980 Never Make Your Move Too Soon, Ernestine Anderson
1986 Go for Whatcha’ Know, Jimmy Smith
1987 Spontaneous Combustion, Barney Kessel
1989 Chicken Scratch, Lee “Scratch” Perry
1990 Snowy Morning Blues, Howard Alden
1991 Unforgettable: With Love, Natalie Cole
1996 Landmarks, Clifton Anderson
1996 Manhattan Moods, Mary Stallings
1996 Verve Jazz Masters ’59, Toots Thielemans
2000 One on One, Clark Terry
2000 That’s Funky, Benny Golson
2001 Universal Lovesongs, Caterina Zapponi
2002 Kristian Jørgensen Meets Monty Alexander, Kristian Jørgensen
2003 Tribute to Charlie Parker, Frank Morgan
2004 With All My Heart, Harvey Mason
2005 In the Rhythm, Suzanne Couch
2006 Chuck Redd Remembers Barney Kessel: Happy All the Time, Chuck Redd
2010 Back in the Saddle Again, Bucky Pizzarelli
2010 You Are There: Duets, Hilary Kole
2011 Kaiso, Etienne Charles
2011 Man With the Hat, Grace Kelly/Phil Woods