Monty Alexander (Montgomery Bernard Alexander, Kingston, Jamaica, 6 de junio de 1944) es un pianista de jazz, que también toca la melódica. Su forma de tocar tiene una fuerte influencia de la música caribeña y del swing. Entre sus principales influencias se encuentran músicos de la talla de Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Wynton Kelly y Ahmad Jamal, entre otros.
Biografía[editar]
Alexander descubrió el piano a la edad de cuatro años, y empezó a tomar lecciones de música clásica a las seis. A los catorce ya tocaba en clubes nocturnos de Jamaica con su banda Monty and the Cyclones. A finales de la década de 1950 logró una gran notoriedad en Jamaica a pesar de su corta edad. En esos años viajó a Estados Unidos y tocó por primera vez con la orquesta de Art Mooney. Al poco tiempo ya acompañaba a destacados cantantes y músicos de primera categoría como Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Smith o Milt Jackson con quien entabló una amistad entrañable que duró hasta la muerte del vibrafonista, fundador del The Modern Jazz Quartet, en 1999.
Su estilo destaca por la fusión entre las raíces jamaicanas y el jazz estadounidense clásico, con una fuerte influencia caribeña. Sus influencias más notorias son Wynton Kelly, Art Tatum, Gene Harris y Ahmad Jamal.
Su trabajo más popular fue como pianista en el disco Unforgettable, de Natalie Cole, en el cual se rinde homenaje al cantante Nat King Cole y que estuvo primero en la lista de éxitos de Billboard en 1991.
[wiki]
Monty Alexander (born Montgomery Bernard Alexander on 6 June 1944 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a jazz pianist, who also 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, 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 (and arguably Alexander's finest album) 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. Currently, Alexander is married to Italian jazz singer Catarina Zapponi.
[wiki]
Tracklist
01. A Beautiful Friendship (449)
02. Can't You See (610)
03. Come Fly With Me (801)
04. Got To Go (607)
05. I've Never Been In Love Before (512)
06. Love Me TenderA House Is Not A Home (510)
07. Ruby (454)
08. Sweet Lady (502)
09. Used To Be Jackson (601)
10. You Call It Madness (523)
11. We've Only Just Begun (706)
Personnel:
Monty Alexander (piano)
Hassan Shakur (bass)
Willie Jones III (drums)
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