UPLIFT Monty Alexander

UPLIFT Monty Alexander Alexander's Auspicious Label Debut (JLP Records) Gives Listeners a Front Row Seat To Live Piano Perfection Alongside The Ace Rhythm Section of Hassan Shakur, Herlin Riley and Frits Landesbergen Jamaican jazz piano virtuoso Monty Alexander is acclaimed the world over for his seemingly extraterrestrial technique and sublime, heartfelt swing. Now with the release of his Jazz Legacy Productions debut Uplift, the pianist opens his personal concert archives to eager listeners everywhere, for an unforgettably riveting recorded affair. "Music is a healing force," Alexander says, on the eve of the album's release. "My hope is that by the end of a concert, and by the end of this album too, everybody will be taken with a feeling of uplift. That's what I always want to do." Featuring performances from Alexander's acclaimed live concerts over a three-year period. Uplift includes tracks the prodigious pianist has made his own over a storied, fifty-year career. From heartfelt renditions of standards like "Come Fly With Me" and "Body And Soul," to affecting originals like "Renewal" and "Hope," the album grooves hard and wide, much like Alexander himself. "I like to paint a rainbow of many emotions during a program," Alexander says. "You'll hear me play some blues with a good, old backbeat like 'One Mint Julep," and then I play "Django," which is a very reverential piece to me, having known so many of the musicians associated with it. For me, almost everything I play has a personal reference." Alexander was born in Kingston, Jamaica and felt the gravitational pull of music at an early age. "When I was a kid in my Country, I used to hear the folk bands play Calypso music and other songs made popular by people like Harry Belafonte," Alexander explains. "Every time I came into contact with the musicians playing that music, there was always joy. And that was my whole experience with music and what led me to be a musician in the first place." Self-taught and unable to read traditional music notation, Alexander's seemingly unorthodox approach to the piano would not prevent him from attaining widespread global acclaim. He would make musical waves in his homeland first, (leading the group Monty and The Cyclones), and soon after, his two-fisted piano pyrotechnics would send him into the musical stratosphere, performing and or recording with legendary artists like Frank Sinatra, Milt Jackson, Ray Brown, and countless others. A commanding career as a solo artist would soon follow, with Alexander recording over sixty albums as a leader himself, and anchoring countless tours to support them. Uplift finds Alexander at the peak of his creative form, with the kind of musically adventurous set the esteemed pianist's concerts are known for. The album opens with a swinging nod to Frank Sinatra on the Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn standard "Come Fly With Me," with Alexander's technical tenacity on full, recorded display. "That tune takes me right back to Frank Sinatra sitting in the back room at Jilly's when I was playing piano there at the age on nineteen, he says. "I like to tell people that I'm really a saloon piano player at heart." Other arresting album tracks include the Monty Alexander Mgmt +1-212-731-9291 - [email protected] www.montvalexander .com

scintillating, shuffle-fied "One Mint Julep," and a stride-meets-Monk take on "Sweet Georgia Brown," with a nod to two of Alexander's musical mentors. "The real heroes on that tune for me were Nat "King" Cole and Oscar Peterson," he explains. "Nat Cole had a real simultaneously hot and cool style in his fingers, and Oscar Peterson's powerful rhythm and big full orchestral approach always struck a chord with me as well." Known for his ability to leap tall chord changes at breakneck speeds, Alexander surprises on Uplift with a healthy dose of musical variety as well. A mournful reading of John Lewis' venerable jazz ballad "Django," (complete with mid-song swing interlude), a masterfully-modulating, waltz-like rendition of the jazz staple "Body and Soul," and nods to his Jamaican homeland on Calypsoflavored tracks like his own "Home" and Blue Mitchell's "Fungi Mama," round the album out with fire-filled flair. Uplift finds Alexander in esteemed musical company, courtesy of rhythm section ringers Hassan Shakur on bass, and Herlin Riley and Frits Landesbergen on drums. "The main thing is that I have these terrific guys playing with me," Alexander says of his band. "They help me get there!" Alexander mined his own personal concert archives for Uplift, hand picking album tracks alongside Jazz Legacy Productions founder John Lee. "I play a lot of shows in Europe," Alexander says, "and sometimes I return from them with recordings of recent concerts. This time when I went and listened to the tapes, I was more than pleasantly surprised! So I'm thrilled that John found a home for the music on his label. He's done a great thing." After nearly a half-century of piano prestidigitation, Monty Alexander still plays with the same sense of purpose that guided his career from the start. "It's about telling your story," Alexander says, "and finding a way to bring life to the experience every time you sit at the piano." One listen to the joyful noise on Uplift, and you're sure to confirm his mission as accomplished.

For additional information on Monty Alexander, please visit montyalcxander.com For additional information on Jazz Legacy Productions, please visit: jazzlegacyproductions.com For more information, please contact: DL Media • 610-667-0501 Jordy Freed • jordvfSidlmediamusic.com

Monty Alexander Mgmt +1-212-731-9291 - [email protected] www.rnontyalexander .com

MONTY ALEXANDER-Bio 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. In the process, he has performed and recorded with artists from every corner of the musical universe: Frank Sinatra, Ray Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Clark Terry, Quincy Jones, Ernest Ranglin, Barbara Hendricks, Sly Dunbar, and Robbie Shakespeare, among many others. Born on D-Day (June 6, 1944) and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, he took his first piano lessons at age six but was largely self-taught. As a teenager, he witnessed concerts by Louis Armstrong and Nat "King" Cole at Kingston's Carib Theater. These artists had a profound effect on Alexander's own style. He formed Monty and the Cyclones in the late 60s and also recorded on sessions with musicians who would later form The Ska tali tes. Alexander and his family came to the United States at the end of 1961. Less than two years later, while playing in Las Vegas with Art Mooney's orchestra, he caught the eye of New York City club owner Jilly Rizzo and his friend, Frank Sinatra. Rizzo hired the young pianist to work in his club, Jilly's, where he accompanied Sinatra and others. There he met Modern Jazz Quartet vibraphonist Milt Jackson, who hired him and eventually introduced him to former Charlie Parker collaborator and legendary bassist Ray Brown. Alexander recorded and performed with the two jazz giants on many occasions. His musical collaborations span multiple genres and styles. His projects have been as varied as assisting Natalie Cole in her tribute album to her father, Nat "King" Cole in 1991 (that album, Unforgettable, won seven Grammy awards), performing George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" under the direction of Bobby McFerrin at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and recording the piano track for the film score of Clint Eastwood's Bird, a movie about the life of jazz titan Charlie Parker. In 2008, Alexander conceived and directed the acclaimed program Ljords of the West Indies at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Alexander maintains a rigorous touring schedule worldwide, from jazz clubs to concert halls and at Jazz Festivals from South Africa to Montreux (Switzerland), and Australia. In August 2000 Monty Alexander was awarded the tide of Commander in the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican government for outstanding services to Jamaica in his capacity as worldwide music ambassador. To date Monty Alexander has recorded over 70 albums as a leader. His recent albums on the Telarc label include trio sessions, such as Impressions in Blue, and live concert recordings, such as Gain' Yard. In the late summer of 2005, Alexander traveled to Bob Marley's Tuff Gong Studio in Kingston, Jamaica, and teamed up with Jamaican top session players to record Concrete Jungle, a set of twelve compositions penned by Bob Marley and reinterpreted via Alexander's jazz piano-oriented arrangements. The resulting union of musical perspectives digs deep into the Marley legend and brings together the two worlds that Alexander most treasures, building the musical bridges that are the very essence of his craft. As a testament to his versatility, The Good Ljfe, on Chesky Records is a collection of songs written and popularized by one of his all-time favorite artists and good friends, Tony Bennett. His latest release also on Chesky is Calypso Blues, a tribute to his hero Nat "King" Cole. Three releases are in the works for 2011-2012: a trio album on JLP records, an album featuring Monty Alexander's presentation, Harlem-Kingston Express, on the Motema label, in addition to a piano solo album comprised of Monty Alexander's own compositions on Arbors records.

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Monty Alexander

One World Of Music By Ted Pan ken

T

he adage "absence makes the heart grow fonder,"

George Fludas and a plugged-in Jamaican contingent—Wendel Ferraro on guitar (filling both coined to convey the kindling effect of separation soloistic and comping roles), Glen Browne on bass and Karl Wright on drums. This configuration, documented on the 2011 upon romantic ardor, applies with equal measure release Harlem-Kingston Express (Motema) to pianist Monty Alexander's ongoing obsession with Herlin Riley on drums, is the most recent iteration of a series of Alexander-conceptualized with the music of Jamaica, his homeland, from efforts over the past few decades to coalesce "things that reflect my heritage as an Englishspeaking Caribbean person" with the princiwhence he migrated to Miami in 1961, at age 17. ples of hardcore swinging jazz. "I was bummed As a Kingston youngster, Alexander re- '70s, when he closed the books on his 300-days- out after it ended with John and Jeff because I'd called, "I soaked up everything—the calyp- a-year-on-the-road trio with John Clayton and gotten used to that precision, that projection," he so band playing at the swimming pool in the Jeff Hamilton, he was an upper-echelon stylist, said. "Although other people were fine and good, country, local guys at jam sessions who wished referred to by Oscar Peterson, himself descend- no one came close to that, and I'm not one to go they were Dizzy [Gillespie] and Miles [Davisl, ed from St. Kitts and St. Croix, as "my little West scouting." To recharge, he began spending quala dance band playing Jamaican melodies, songs Indian counterpart." ity time in Jamaica. "I'd go to the studio with Sly that [Harry] Belafonte would have sung. I was "You come to America, you try to blend in and Robbie, who know me from way back. It's fully aware of the rhythm-and-blues, my he- and do what they do," Alexander explained. "At simple music, two chords—but life is in those roes on piano were Eddie Heywood and Erroll first, I was even trying to speak like American two chords." Garner, and, above all, Louis Armstrong was my people"—he demonstrated several voices—"so Later in the "80s, Alexander—whose first king. I had one foot in the jazz camp and the oth- they wouldn't keep asking, 'Where do you come Jamaica-centric dates were the still-samer in the old-time folk music—no one more valu- from?' But as the years went by, I started express- pled mid-'70s MPS groove albums Rass! and able than the other." ing myself by claiming my heritage more. I said, Jamento—slarted to present units with which Once in the States, though, Alexander com- 'Wait a minute, home is as good as it gets.'" he could incorporate Caribbean flavors, includpartmentalized, sublimating roots towards estabIn Orvieto, Italy, for a five-concert engage- ing an "Ivory and Steel" ensemble with steel lishing a jazz identity. By 1970, he was a distin- ment at Umbria Jazz Winter 2010, Alexander drummer Othello Molineaux and hand drumguished voice, with a CV citing long-haul trio spoke in the high-ceilinged sitting room of his mer Bobby Thomas. After signing with Telarc gigs with various New York A-listers, as well hotel, which evoked a ducal mansion. With him in the mid-'90s, he embarked on a succession of as consequential sideman work in Los Angeles for the week was a band comprising an acous- recordings on which he reunited with musicians with Milt Jackson and Ray Brown. By the late tic trio with bassist Hassan Shakur and drummer he'd known since his teens, among them several MAY 2011 DOWNBEAT

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dates with guitarist Ernest Ranglin, and one with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. Four other recordings—Stir It Up and Concrete Jungle reveal Alexander's take on Bob Marley's music, while Coin' Yard and Yard Movement address a broader Jamaican spectrum—hearken to mento, Jamaica's indigenous calypso, descended from the French quadrille music to which English colonists danced in the 19th century. Mento evolved into, as Alexander puts it, "a deep country Jamaican thing" that spread throughout the island, and, as the 20th century progressed, crosspollinated with r&b and jazz, evolving into ska. As Alexander delved ever deeper into these rediscovered interests, he found it increasingly difficult to convene a single ensemble in which he could satisfactorily convey them. "I would have a trio of jazz masters, and when I'd want to play something that reflected Jamaica, whether calypso or Bob Marley, I couldn't get that thing because that's not what they do," Alexander said. "Conversely, the Jamaican guys didn't relate to the jazz experience. I wanted to give my serf an opportunity to share my two loves, which is one love, to coin Bob's phrase." This feeling had permeated the previous evening's concert. Alexander came to the piano, positioned stage center to the left of Shakur and Fludas. He opened with Ellingtonian chords, and launched a chugging train blues, transitioned to the changes of "Blue And Boogie," then re-

turned to an Ellington medley that resolved into "Caravan." After brief remarks, a brisk stomp through "Sweet Georgia Brown" and some nachtmusik chords, Browne and Wright entered stage right and laid down reggae riddims. Playing percussively, Alexander soon segued into Ernest Gold's "Exodus," blew a melodica, quoted "let my people go" within his solo, returned to the piano bench and ended with a flourish. With the trio, he played a shuffle blues, then a hard-swinging blues—midway through the latter, he stood, pointed to the Jamaicans and orchestrated a metric modulation, quoting "Manteca" in his solo, before seguing into Marley's "No Woman, No Cry." The back-and-forth proceeded for another half-hour, before Alexander concluded with a romping "Come Fly With Me" and a melodymilking rendition of "All The Way." "Recently I've been doing this with more commitment than before," Alexander remarked of the real-time genre-switching. "I'm fulfilled, because it's my own life experience. It's like Barack Obama music. We are all cut from the same cloth."

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erhaps 20 years ago, Alexander got angry at someone, intended to hit them, thought better of it, punched the wall instead and broke his hand. "Ever since that day, I don't play as fast as I used to," he said. "But instead of playing 20 notes that may not mean that much, I started playing

six or seven that are soulful or meaningful." The chops are abundant on Uplift (JLP), a deeply swinging navigation of the American Songbook with bassist Hassan Shakur and drummer Herlin Riley that follows the 2008 trio date The Good Life: Monty Alexander Plays The Songs Of Tony Bennett and 2009's Calypso Blues: The Songs Of Nat King Cole (Chesky) as companion pieces to his excellent 1997 Sinatra tribute Echoes OfJilly's (Concord). Rather than abstract the tunes, Alexander hews to the iconic arrangements, illuminating the music from within, deploying effervescent grooves, lovely rubatos, a killing left hand, an innate feel for stating melody, well-calibrated touch, harmonic acumen and an ability to reference a broad timeline of piano vocabulary stretching to pre-bop. Each interpretation embodies a point of view. Like his "eternal inspiration," Erroll Garner, Alexander gives the hardcore-jazz-obsessed much to dig into, while also communicating the message to the squares! "civilian." "In our home, Nat Cole was the voice of America," said Alexander, who experienced a transformational moment in 1956 when he saw Cole play on a package concert in Kingston with Louis Armstrong. "My awareness of his piano playing came later; it was just that smooth voice. At first I confused him with Gene Autry. I was always connecting one thing with another—'Wait a minute, that sounded like that.'

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That's why for me, even now, it's one world of music. I try to remove all the lines." By 1956, Alexander had already spent half his life entertaining people with music. "I'd emulate people my folks knew who played old-time stride," he said. "I was playing boogie-woogie from the get-go, rockin' the joint. I just had fun at the piano." Later, he would extrapolate a conceptual framework from Ahmad Jamal's 1958 classic "Poinciana." "It was a merging of two worlds," he said. "Sophistication on the piano, harmonic wonderment and the nastiest jungle rhythm going on in the background. That's Jamaica. It's about dancin', it's about groovin'— it's all one thing." Such formative experiences gave Alexander a certain ignorance-of-youth confidence when he started playing in "tough guy clubs" in Miami Beach. Within a year he was working at Le Bistro, a two-room joint where he shared the bill with a Sinatra impersonator named Duke Hazlitt. One night after a concert at the Fontainebleau, Sinatra came through with an entourage, including Sinatra's consigliere, Jilly Rizzo, and Rizzo's wife, Honey. "I'm playing, minding my own business, trying to behave and not to be too noisy," Alexander recalled. "But I must have been kicking up a storm, because apparently Honey came in and told Jilly to come hear this kid play. In those days, I'd come in with all guns blazing. She told me, 'We've got this club in New York, Jilly's, and it would be nice to have you play in there, kid.'" About a year later, midway through 1963, Rizzo finally brought Alexander to his eponymous West 54th Street tough guy bar, which doubled as Sinatra's late-night office. Just 19 and residing a few blocks away in the Hotel Edison, Alexander joined Local 802, situated directly across the street from the club, and assumed his place among New York's jazz elite. Within a few years, he was also working uptown at Minton's Playhouse and at the Playboy Club. "I remember sitting at Jilly's piano bar, a few feet away from Miles Davis and Frank in deep conversation," Alexander reminisced. "My crowning point was when Miles came to me and said, 'Where did you learn to play that shit?' Next thing, he writes his phone number on a little matchbook, and we're hanging out at his house or going to the fights. Miles told me, 'You got the right complexion.'" Alexander noted that his bloodline is an admixture of Lebanese, Spanish and African strains, and that the ambiguity as to his racial identity had a great deal to do with his ability to comfortably navigate various circles in Jim Crow-era Miami as well as New York City. "At Minton's they'd say, 'What's this Puerto Rican guy doing who can play jazz like that?' When I first saw Ray Brown's picture on an Oscar Peterson record cover, I saw the smile and the teeth and said, 'Damn, Uncle Jim!'" More than the familial resemblance, Alexander was drawn to Brown's consistency, tone and the truck-coming-down-the-road surge

of his beat, so he tried to be around him whenever he could. "I got to know Ray better," he recalled. "I went to see him in L.A. at the Gaslight. When I got there, nobody's listening, nobody cares, it's the last set, and they had to play one obligatory tune. Frankie Capp walks to the drums, Mundell Lowe picks up the guitar, but the piano player is boozed-out at the bar. I asked Ray, 'Can I play a tune?' Within two choruses, he's screaming, he's groovin' and I'm groovin', and we're as happy as kids in the candy jar. He said, 'Where are you going to be this summer? I want you to play with me and Milt Jackson.' "When you're in company with people who are at a certain level, it upgrades your musicianship. I'd been smitten with the MJQ since I saw a record with these four dignified black men on the cover—they looked like funeral directors. I learned about the connections—John Lewis and Ray with Dizzy's big band, Hank Jones telling Dizzy about Ray. I took that personal thing on the bandstand. I felt like I belonged to that crowd."

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n spontaneously orchestrating the HarlemKingston Express band in live performance, Alexander seemed to be paralleling the bandstand procedures by which both Ahmad Jamal and Duke Ellington deployed their units to convey their intentions in real time. The pianist concurred. "It's a kind of joyful, loving dictatorship," he said. 'That's why I use musicians who are willing and easygoing, who give me their trust and confidence and won't question what I'm doing." More so than instant composition a la Jamal and Ellington as an m.o. for following the dictates of the moment, Alexander focuses on serious play. "I don't read music, and I play by ear," he said. "You can chalk it up to a certain amount of laziness, because if I really wanted to read, there's no reason I can't. But when I see paper in front of me, man, I start sweating. That part of my brain doesn't function well. I don't know how to play music that's not coming from my instant, make-it-up stuff. "I get bored with a planned format. I can't repeat the same thing twice. I'm always reaching for now, live in the now, present tense, and I look for inspiration from wherever." This blank-slate attitude inflects the aforementioned trio projects. "I just went in the studio," Alexander said, referencing the 2009 Nat Cole tribute. '"Haji Baba' is from a movie with Nat, and I used to sing it walking down the street when I was nine—I listened to the bridge on that and on 'Again' to make sure I had it right. But for the most part, when I play music, I smell it and see colors. Every song has its own personality, its own soul, and if I can't feel it, I can't play it with feeling. "I don't understand what it is that makes me different, but I feel I have very little in common with anybody else. I seem to be my own strange character. If I'm right in my motivations and attitude, amazing things happen." DB

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October 8-October 14, 2009 23

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Caribbean Lingo

Monty Alexander makes Lincoln Center stop By MISANI Special to theAmNews The takeoff was sweet, man. Real sweet. Looking dapper in black slacks, a white shirt, a vest with distinctive black and white geometric designs, and an

Monty Alexander playing melodica at the late playwright Trevor Rhone's Nine Ninth ceremony In Brooklyn (Hakim Mutlaq photo)

ecru-colored jacket set off by a red silk handkerchief, the distinguished looking, silverhaired pianist Monty Alexander immediately took command of the Allen Room at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall last Friday evening. With a sound akin to that of a train whistle emanating from his melodica, signaling "all aboard," Alexander's "Harlem-Kingston Express" smoothly took off on a marvelously entertaining and enlightening, cross-cultural musical excursion, focusing on what he refers to as "Jamaica's calypso, our folk music, which we call Mento." Skillfully soaring and transcending beyond the Allen Room's signature wall of glass and out into the neon-lit night sky, Alexander's exhilarating fusion of music transformed the Manhattan skyline into a dreamy landscape. Here, jazz and reggae played, folklore and traditions danced, and New Orleans and Jamaica made love. Soloing exquisitely on piano at the top of the set, Alexander was dazzling on a medley of Jamaican and American classics that included "Jamaica Farewell," "Island in the Sun," "Young at Heart" and "Sweet Georgia Brown. The pianist, to date, has recorded close to 70 albums during his illustrious career, which began as a teenager in Jamaica when he formed his first band, Monty and the Cyclones. Amongst his earliest influences were Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole, who the young musician first saw when they visited Jamaica, prior to immigrating to the United States in 1961 at

the age of 17. During the Friday evening concert, Alexander took the audience back to Jamaica in many ways. One was through his stimulating guest, the Jamaican storyteller and poet Ms. Mattie Lou, who gave delightful renditions of the traditional folk songs, "Long Time Gal Me No See You," "Hill and Gully Rider," "What a Saturday Night" and "Lanton Market." Dressed in a long, traditional, red and black calico skirt and white bodice, with a matching head tie (head wrap), Ms. Mattie Lou enlightened the capacityfilled venue about the songs, as well as some of the folklore and traditions of her country. Accompanied by the first-rate banjo player Carlton "Blackie" James, who also sang along with Ms. Lou, an excellent young djembe drummer (apologies, as his name was not listed) and Alexander joining in on the melodica, this segment gave a vivid and enriching depiction of Jamaica's timehonored folkloric expressions. Switching between Jamaican dialect (broken "French, English and Portuguese") and "standard" English, Alexander closed this segment by acknowledging writer/poet/comedienne The Hon. Louise Simone BennettCoverley (Ms. Lou), the great Jamaican cultural folklorist who championed the use of Jamaican dialect (patois) in everyday life, making it acceptable in Jamaica, the Caribbean and throughout the Caribbean Diaspora. A cultural diplomat in his own right, in 2000, Alexander was awarded the title of commander of distinction by the government of Jamaica "for outstanding service to his country in his capacity as worldwide music ambassador." This was reflected throughout the evening's performance with the Monty Alexander Trio, featuring the exceptional Alexander on piano, the superb Hassan J.J. Wiggins Shakur on acoustic bass and New Orleans' electrifying Herlin Riley on drums. After several fantastic numbers, the trio was joined by the horn section, with the Juilliard-trained Trinidadian trumpet dynamo Etienne Charles, the talented Harlemhorn Clifton Anderson (trombone) and the gifted Charles Dougherty (tenor saxophone). Adding to the mix were the super talented, cool Jamaican musicians Wayne Armond (guitar and vocals), Glen Browne (bass) and the white-gloved Karl Wright (drums). This hybrid combination was out of

this world as the musicians worked their magic. In between numbers, Alexander's spontaneous conversation further added to the musical experience. Focusing on Harlem, he recalled: "I played at Minton's in 1957 when I first came to New York City." Honoring that moment, he swung into Duke Ellington's "Things Ain't What They Used To Be." Another cherished memory induced him to play "Take the 'A' Train." On a new composition dedicated to the Jamaican track phenom Usain Bolt, the upbeat ska number featured Alexander on piano and Wiggins Shakur on bass boldly racing against each other, following which Riley, with his inimitable style,

rushes in and everything explodes rhythmically as they try to catch up to the world's fastest human being. This number was totally solid, as was the closing "One Love," from Alexander's 2005 masterpiece album, "Concrete Jungle," a reinterpreted, jazz piano-oriented arrangement of Bob Marley tunes. Trust me, like the standing ovation bestowed upon the great pianist last Friday evening, somewhere in the heavens, the Honorable Robert Nesta Marley and Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey were likewise smiling down and applauding their fellow countryman, the highly esteemed Mr. Monty Alexander.

Ms. Mattie Lou, folklorist/ poet

(Hakim Mutlaq photo)

Lingo!!!" series, which serves to pay tribute to Caribbean artists and art forms of the highest caliber, please e-mail our team at: To contact the "Caribbean [email protected].

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Harlem Kingston Express Artistic Statement

For a long time I've been playing live with (jazz] trios — that's the most economical way to do your music. I've never encouraged horn players to join me, because I'm completely at home in the setting where there's an acoustic bass and drums, and they're supplying the basic sound and textures. I used to play songs that reflected my Jamaican heritage, with the other [jazz] musicians. But when I would play with the Jamaican players, and we would play things in that direction, that's when it really took on the authenticity that I'm going for every time. It was a while before I said [to myself], if I want to do this music and pick from the whole palette — which is everything from Duke Ellington, Nat Cole, Bob Marley, Burning Spear, and my own pieces, etc., I'm going to do what I want to do and bring two rhythm sections together. That way, it all can be available to me, whatever I feel, the whole time. Because I feel American [and] I feel Jamaican, and the rhythms that come from the street and the country in America are just as meaningful to me as the vibrations that come from Jamaica. It's like, [my] left hand and [my] right hand. And according to my whims, as I start playing the music, and the spirit moves me, I say, 'I think I want to go Uptown right now. We're going to go to 125th Street.' Bap!!, and I give it to the Trio. Then I say, 'alright, we're going right down to Trenchtown,' and then at the right moment, I invite everybody to share in this world experience. It's just a wonderful coming together of hearts and minds and brotherhood between musicians. I'm at the piano, and [the piano] become the meeting place. And when I play this music this way, it's cathartic. These days I call it Harlem Kingston Express, so that name may stick. In any case, it's the great players of Jazz and the great players of Jamaican music, and it has always been a positive experience.

— Monty Alexander