Monty Alexander Trio Embark on First West Coast Run In A Year

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.

Jamaican-born pianist Monty Alexander has been thrilling audiences for five decades, including thirteen years of headline performances at the Montreux International Jazz Festival. Fifty-five years after he moved to the United States from Kingston, Jamaica, his home town, pianist Monty Alexander is an American classic, touring the world relentlessly with various projects, delighting a global audience drawn to his vibrant personality and soulful message. His spirited conception is one informed by the timeless verities: endless melody-making, effervescent grooves, sophisticated voiceings, a romantic spirit, and a consistent predisposition, as Alexander accurately states, "to build up the heat and kick up a storm." In the course of any given performance, Alexander applies those aesthetics to repertoire spanning a broad range of jazz and Jamaican musical expression-the American songbook and the blues, gospel and bebop, calypso and reggae.

Like his "eternal inspiration," Erroll Garner, Alexander-cited as the fifth greatest jazz pianist ever in The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time (Hal Leonard Publishing) and mentioned in Robert Doerschuk's 88: The Giants of Jazz Piano-gives the hardcore-jazz-obsessed much to dig into while also communicating the message to the squarest "civilian."

Moss Theater - January 14 - 8PM
New Roads School at The Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Blvd
Santa Monica, CA
90404
Phone: (800) 838-3006 ext. 1
Tickets, click here.

Yoshi's - January 16 - 8PM
510 Embarcadero West
Oakland, CA 94607
Phone: 510-238-9200
Tickets, click here.

Monty Alexander TRIO:
Monty Alexander - piano
JJ Shakur - bass
Jason Brown - drums