THE LEGENDARY JAMAICAN PIANO MASTER- Monty Alexander “Love Notes” From Jamaica to Jazz

THE LEGENDARY JAMAICAN PIANO MASTER-

Monty Alexander

“Love Notes”
From Jamaica to Jazz
Birdland – January 15-19
Reserve Now!

Photo credit: Joe Martinez/Jazz at Lincoln Center

Dr. Monty Alexander – piano

JJ Shakur – bass

Jason Brown – drums

“Love Notes” From Jamaica to Jazz

January 15-19
Birdland
315 W. 44th St.
New York, NY 10036
Phone: 212-581-3080
Reservations, click here.

Monty Alexander at Birdland – Review by Will Friedwald

Frank Sinatra wrote ‘The Kid is a Gas’ in the liner notes of Monty’s first album Alexander the Great (1965). “It was also in 1965 that Miles Davis came into Mr. Sinatra’s favorite New York City night spot, Jilly’s, where I was playing. After I ended the set, he came over and asked me, ‘Where did you learn to play that s**t?!’ Then he handed me his phone number and said, ‘Come on by my house’, which I did, on many occasions! A happy and meaningful memory! He continued to visit Jilly’s, sitting at the piano bar with friends when I was playing there. He did so on several occasions. I guess he must’ve liked what he was hearing.”

– Monty Alexander

In 2001, Monty received the highly-respected Commander of Distinction award from the Government of Jamaica. As jazz royalty, he continues to travel the globe, performing to appreciative, enthusiastic audiences everywhere!

In a career spanning five decades, pianist Monty Alexander has built a reputation exploring the worlds of American jazz, popular song, and the music of his native Jamaica, finding in each a sincere spirit of musical expression.

Jamaican-born pianist Monty Alexander has been thrilling audiences for five decades, including thirteen years of headline performances at the Montreux International Jazz Festival. Fifty-five years after he moved to the United States from Kingston, Jamaica, his home town, pianist Monty Alexander is an American classic, touring the world relentlessly with various projects, delighting a global audience drawn to his vibrant personality and soulful message. His spirited conception is one informed by the timeless verities: endless melody-making, effervescent grooves, sophisticated voiceings, a romantic spirit, and a consistent predisposition, as Alexander accurately states, “to build up the heat and kick up a storm.” In the course of any given performance, Alexander applies those aesthetics to repertoire spanning a broad range of jazz and Jamaican musical expression-the American songbook and the blues, gospel and bebop, calypso and reggae.

Like his “eternal inspiration,” Erroll Garner, Alexander-cited as the fifth greatest jazz pianist ever in The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time (Hal Leonard Publishing) and mentioned in Robert Doerschuk’s 88: The Giants of Jazz Piano-gives the hardcore-jazz-obsessed much to dig into while also communicating the message to the squarest “civilian.”