Search - Monty Alexander :: Live at the Iridium

Musical Vertigo

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 04/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Take equal parts of Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, and Gene Harris, add a jigger of Jamaican rum, steep the mix in the spirits of Louis, Nat and the Count--and you've got one heck of a musician, not to mention a superior piano album and an inspired live recording session that is unlikely to be topped by any subsequent release in 2005. I was about to decide I didn't need another Monty Alexander record, especially after reading a casually dismissive review of this one in a major jazz publication. Now it's become all too obvious that the writer didn't know what he was talking about, probably someone unaware not only of the Great American Songbook but of the difference between mere "originality" (remove standards of measurement, and we're all "original") and genuine melodic, rhythmic, harmonic inventiveness.



This is Monty's best recording in at least 10, if not 15, years, an album that brings to mind his admired 1976 Montreux concert session, and even recalls some of the youthful fire that characterized his exhuberant, tireless playing in the early years ("We've Only Just Begun," an LP on the defunct MPS/BSAF label, remains the single hardest-swinging album I've heard in a lifetime of collecting records).



What distinguishes Monty's playing from a Tatum or Peterson is the room he leaves for the listener. As dazzling as his technique and pianisms are, he never simply overwhelms you. Every new chorus finds him coming up with a whole new way of attacking the challenge of improvisation. He'll suddenly give his left hand the melodic chores and do a left-handed boogie with his right hand; or he'll do an unaccompanied polyrhythmic chorus followed by ascending block chords leading chromatically into an exploding out chorus. And much of the time his "out" choruses are merely set-ups for another round of all-out improvising, except with the intensity turned up a notch.



Listening to Monty is a bit like watching a Hitchcock movie-you're always matching wits with a master who's daring you to guess his next move. It's rarely what the listener anticipates, or it's the anticipated occurring at an unexpected time.



"Work Song," that overly familiar, thread worn jazz standard, is brimful of surprises, changing keys imperceptibly and going into overdrive just when it appears the high-flying musical rhetoric of the performance is coming in for a landing. "Little Darlin'" finds Monty not merely turning in an imaginative, dynamically-varied performance but capturing the spirit of Basie and company-replete from the leader's minimalist piano to Monty's reaching into his gut to pull out sustained tremulos of crescendoing power equal to the sound of the entire ensemble. "My Mother's Eyes" reflects all of the lilt and lyricism of Sonny Stitt's recording of the tune and offers a virtual clinic on how to draw a listener into a heretofore unfamiliar song. Monty plays the melody straight and unaccompanied, goes at it again with rhythm section, then eases into a graceful two-beat feel, finally hitting his stride with a walking, swinging 4/4 version, departing further from the tune on each subsequent chorus but never relinquishing strategic points of reference to the original melody.



But it's not merely the variety and eclecticism that distinguish a scintillating Alexander set. What's significant is that the hooks, allusions, riffs, and inexhaustible tricks up the pianist's sleeve never intrude on the momentum and swing of the performance. This is music for the mind, the soul and, not least, the feet. If some of the pianist's recent recordings have left you less than fully satisfied (personally, I can take only so much electric piano, Motown, and even reggae), this one should more than atone."

Awesome...simply awesome

J. Marquez | Los Angeles, CA | 04/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With the deluge of mediocre American music seemingly enveloping you from every media outlet, it seems almost easier to find outstanding, obscure music from other parts of the world, such that you begin to believe that America has nothing to offer and you give up looking. As odd as it may sound, I first encountered Monty Alexander's music on a Mexico City public radio station (www.unam.mx.radiounam/htm/index.htm) and was blown away at his skill, the creativity of the music and most of all....how likeable it really is.



One of the issues that I have had with some intellectually gratifying American jazz was that it just wasn't melodic...didn't go anywhere...I just didn't want to listen to it often. And I had begun to conclude that Mexican Jazz, with a mere fraction of performers & recordings, was much better than American Jazz because it tends to be so contagious...but coming across Monty Alexander's music has encouraged me to explore local jazz a lot more...perhaps my jazz collection might be overly weighted towards Latin & European jazz."

Monty at iridium

B. Wibbens | Netherlands | 11/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Monty's back. great solo's, swinging rythm. Must have purchase for the real fan."