Boomshots

Tag: Monty Alexander

  • Reasoning with Monty Alexander: “The Party Don’t Stop”

    Reasoning with Monty Alexander: “The Party Don’t Stop”

    The Jamaican-Born World-Renowned Jazz Pianist Celebrates His Reggae Roots

    In the jazz world, Monty Alexander is recognized as a master pianist. In the reggae world, he is respected as a pioneer of Jamaican music, having played keys on countless crucial selections alongside such masters as Tommy McCook, Roland Alphonso, and Ernest Ranglin. Whenever he takes the stage, Monty loves to blend the best of all his musical traditions into a sublime blend of sounds and styles—and always staying open to working with new upcoming talents and what’s happening now. Just before opening “Jazz Around the West Indies,” his five-night stand at Dizzy’s Place inside Jazz at Lincoln Center NYC, Monty Alexander took time out to reason with the Reggae Grl About Town, reminiscing about his formative years as a session musician for the pioneers of Jamaican music, and explains why he considers Bob Marley to be a jazz man. Videos After The Jump… (more…)

  • Reasoning With Monty Alexander

    The Grammy-Nominated Jamaican Jazz Master Nices Up The Blue Note

    With 50 years of making music and some 70 records under his belt, the Jamaican-born and world-renowned pianist Monty Alexander has finally received his first Grammy nomination. His live album Harlem-Kingston Express got the nod for the Best Reggae Album this year. Alexander is considered a first-rate pianist in international jazz circles, yet he got his start sitting in with mento bands on accordion, or recording for Coxsone Dodd and Randy Chin. He went on to play with Dizzy Gillespie, record with Quincy Jones, and accompany Frank Sinatra when he passed through Jilly’s on West 52nd Street. In other words—Monty bust big a farin’. Yet instead of turning his back on the Jamaican music that shaped him, he took it back to the foundation and found ways to blend the two with one sound coming through pure and true. That’s just what Monty has been doing during his two-week residency at NYC’s Blue Note, inviting 50 years’ worth of friends from the worlds of jazz and reggae to jam side by side, giving his lucky listeners “The Full Monty.”
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