MONTY ALEXANDER

Monty Alexander – Jamericana Music

by Dave Popkin

Monty Alexander is the Forrest Gump of jazz. He has crossed paths with some legendary figures on his quixotic journey. Born in Jamaica in 1944, he grew up there before reggae, in the early days of mento and ska music. Monty didn’t go to music school or read music. He was a natural. He was influenced by the music on the island and the jazz of Louie Jordan and Nat Cole. He started playing gigs in the late 1950s, then soon progressed to New York at the height and heat of the jazz craze. Monty learned from the best and has subsequently become one of the leading pianists of his generation, melding styles and creating smiles with his groove and infectious personality.

“The word 'jazz' is great, but I love all music. My story is so unique,” Monty says. “I was playing at 14 years old in the recording studios in Kingston, Jamaica. Just a few years after that, I meet my hero, ‘Satchmo’ Louis Armstrong. I come from that early Jamaican thing before Bob Marley. I’ve come up with a new title that says who I am and what I do, 'Jamaica to Jazz': it’s Jamericana music.” 

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