L to r: Jason Brown, Monty Alexander, Bobby Thomas Jr, Luke Sellick. Photo: Pee Wee on Bandcamp
What I liked. Oh there’s a list. But first I will mention the swinging ‘Moondance‘-like feel in the intro to Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ before it changes in a feat of alchemy to reggae. Because Jason Brown’s engaging sound from the kit is great. By coincidence I heard his partner Rachael Cohen earlier this year, the fiery altoist who was on fine form at the Vortex filling in as part of the band of Andrea Di Biase’s, an outfit called Oltremare. Jason has been Monty’s drummer for some years. I heard him first though not with Monty but 5 years ago at a Kentish Town place called the Oxford (now the Parakeet) in the band of Alex Ridout.
Thinking back and more with the eye on the sparrow to the main man himself I interviewed Monty in New York circa the Augustus Pablo inspired Rocksteady over at the Avatar studios and heard him a few times live, at Ronnie’s and at a Polish festival in Kalisz that the great jazz magazine editor Paweł Brodowski curated and presented.
Burning Spear’s ‘Marcus Garvey’ was on Rocksteady and it is reprised beautifully here too. Monty turned 80 a few years ago and D-Day was quite a way to mark his birthday.
He was born on that decisive day in world history when the massive amphibious assault of some 156,000 troops from the UK, US, Canada and other nations on to five Normandy beaches paved the way for the defeat of the Nazis, saving Europe from abject tyranny.
Monty is an Oscar Peterson calibre instrumentalist – that’s about as good as it gets in terms of jazz piano chops – and he then layers in his own Jamaican sound on top so it is very distinctive.
Things – tings – the patois is strong in Monty’s liltingly accented speaking voice redolent of the island even after almost a lifetime in America – like ‘Marcus Garvey’ and ‘Yellow Bird’ tap the Jamaican side of his artistry and then you get the swinging stuff and room for a Philly soul classic. ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New’ is beautifully done.
A Jamarican in Paris was recorded in Paris at a studio down in Malakoff called the Sextan namechecked in the romping ‘Sextan Bucket’. Pee Wee is the Sextan house label. The label has had a great year putting out this lovely record and Elegant People by Biréli Lagrène which is in my list of top in ’26.
The romantic in Monty often emerges and it does so on the Stylistics’ Rockin’ Roll Baby Thom Bell and Linda Creed 1973 classic. The bass playing of the Canadian Luke Sellick is unobtrusive but it is key to the success of this treatment.
A quartet album – ie a piano trio plus percussion in the person of Bobby Thomas Jr. I thought of Ahmad Jamal a few times most of all on Monty original ‘Just Wait’. That’s because of the way Jamal used to insert the Weather Report legend Manolo Badrena into his sound eg on albums like Saturday Morning. Bobby’s just as good a player as the Puerto Rican.
‘Skamento’ has a very happy lilt to it. Skazz [ska and jazz] is a style that Gary Crosby championed with Jazz Jamaica and you get a version of skazz here too on tracks like this.
Monty did ‘Skamento’ on Harlem-Kingston Express Vol 2: The River Rolls On. I saw that pretty heavy volume band outdoors at the Malta Jazz Festival one year. I think I prefer the Jamarican in Paris treatment.
The Uplift version of ‘Hope’
Very much a retrospective of some gems from the Kingston, Jamaica born piano icon’s past work but there are new ‘uns here too, I liked a whole lot the track ‘Look Up’ that goes back to the album of the same name from 1983. The Ellington-in-its-quiet-grandeur nature of ‘Hope’ which was on Uplift (2011) and the much earlier Goin’ Yard is tender and beautiful. If you want swing you get that most on ‘Come Fly With Me’ which opened Uplift [the crowd go potty when they recognise the tune on that live treatment]. There’s an ole blue eyes connection with Monty as his connection to Sinatra extends to a place called Jilly’s when the then young Jamaican jazz pianist was discovered performing in Miami by Sinatra and his close friend, club owner Jilly Rizzo. Monty the entertainer emerges on tracks like this.
– Monty plays Paris club New Morning on Tuesday
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