By age 10 he’d won an international improvisation contest in Ukraine. The family moved to Jakarta, the largest city in Indonesia, and though he spent some time studying classical music he mainly apprenticed by listening to and playing with other jazz musicians. He quickly wowed his parents not only with his ability to learn jazz compositions and play them cleanly, but also his knack for improvisation. I would listen to this song by Thelonious Monk called ‘Well, You Needn’t.’ And then I started to try the piano. I listened to my dad play, because my dad played piano a little bit, and he was playing these songs from the old times and from these great jazz musicians. “Before I played the piano, I would listen to jazz, when I was little. Sometimes it’s hard,” he says of the latest demands on his time, including requests for interviews, “but I enjoy it.”Īccustomed to hearing jazz played in the home, Alexander started on the piano at age 6. If he’s feeling any increased pressure, he’s not showing it. He is speaking the day after appearing on NBC’s “The Today Show” and “Nightly News.” Earlier in the week, he was profiled on the front page of The New York Times. Influenced by Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, and other jazz piano giants, Alexander is an autodidactic luminary whose unrelenting investigation of a distinctive, cross-pollinated sound has spawned a prolific recording and live performance career powered by his roots and influences.Ī perennial favorite at the Montreux Jazz Festival where he has performed and headlined concerts 23 times since 1976 his spirited conception is one informed by the timeless verities: endless melody-making, effervescent grooves, sophisticated voicings, 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 a repertoire spanning a broad range of Jazz and Jamaican musical expressions.“I love jazz because jazz is all about freedom, freedom to express yourself,” Alexander says in a telephone interview.
Jazz piano prodigy alexander full#
With a special memory of that time he was called upon to play George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with a full symphony orchestra.ĭocumented on more than 75 recordings and cited as the fifth greatest jazz pianist ever in The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time (Hal Leonard Publishing), the Jamaican government designated Monty Alexander Commander in the Order of Distinction in 2000, and in 2018 The University of The West Indies bestowed him with an honorary doctorate degree (DLitt) in recognition of his merits.Īlexander is most widely known as an upper echelon master of the swinging piano trio function, as he has demonstrated with several top-shelf groups, including iconic units with bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton (“Montreux Alexander ‘76”), and with the legendary bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis (“Triple Treat”). Doctor of Letters, will present a musical storytelling and autobiographical history from his early days in Jamaica (1950’s) to his intersection with entertainment legend Frank Sinatra (Miami 1962) to his collaborations with Jazz masters, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson, Quincy Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, and with other entertainment legends such as Tony Bennett, Clint Eastwood and Natalie Cole. Monty Alexander, Jamaica’s Commander of Distinction and Hon. Adding that, “Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald once graced Shubert's stage, and Monty joining us is both a celebration of his greatness and an opportunity to revive that history-making.” “The Shubert is celebrated for presenting first-rate theater, but its history tells a more wide-ranging story where ballet, classical, and jazz legends jumped at the opportunity to perform here,” he shares.
For Anthony McDonald, a second-generation Jamaican and the Shubert’s new Executive Director, Alexander’s upcoming performance signals an exciting turn and return for the landmark theatre. The sprawling program is an incomparable experience driven by Monty Alexander’s energetic playing and insightful, narrative interludes-creating a can’t-miss chronicle of the living legend.
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