Monty Alexander
In the search for a variety of sounds, jazz groups have mixed in many sources of material--salsa, bossa nova, high life, hip-hop, rap, rock, funk, classical--but only one man has blended jazz with reggae--Monty Alexander.
Even though Alexander's first band "Monty and the Cyclones" put several hits on the charts in the late 50s, Alexander left his home in Kingston, Jamaica to pursue a career in jazz in the United States. He played and recorded with the top musicians in jazz, especially Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, and his close friend and mentor, Ray Brown, who, sadly, passed away this year. On his own recordings, he developed a piano style somewhere between Oscar Peterson and Gene Harris. He played with a quick, delicate touch that was still soulful and could swing very, very hard.
But somehow, he was always called back home. In 1980, he recorded "Ivory and Steel," a calypso-based recording with famed steel drum player, Othello Molineaux. The songs alternated back and forth between West Indian rhythms and jazz, making fascinating music, never quite finding the perfect hybrid. It was back to jazz after that.
Then, in 1999, Alexander released, "Stir It Up: the Music of Bob Marley." This tribute to Marley superbly married reggae rhythms and jazz harmonies on Marley's lovely, angry songs. Alexander followed that with "Monty Meets Sly and Robbie," a funky, dub-by workout with Jamaican rhythm masters Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. It was clear he'd found his groove. Last year's live "Goin' Yard" and the newly released "My America" explore reggae jazz even further. Alexander's elegant style is propelled by potent reggae rhythms.
On Sunday, Alexander took time between switching hotel rooms, finding his two-day lost luggage and trying to get some lunch on a sweltering humid day, to talk about his two loves--jazz and reggae. In the cool of the hotel lobby, he was as dynamic, excitable and warm as his music.
How did you get into jazz from Jamaica?
"I heard Louis Armstrong as a kid. I wanted to be a trumpet player. When you hear that sound, from such a man, you just have to go there."
So, then you did jazz and jazz only?
"I had the chance to be with really great people, Dizzy, Milt Jackson, Ray Brown and these really, really wonderful musicians. It was great to be with those people, but now I can lighten up and play more down-home. After forty years of trying to make people happy, I realize that's my joy, my pleasure, to make people happy, including myself."
But these CDs are still very much jazz?
"Oh, yeah. There's nothing I love more than just swinging with a bass and drums. Ray Brown said, it's all about swinging. Just play two chords and it's all right if it's swinging."
But, something was always missing?
"With the groups there, I always had these great swinging Americans, but they didn't really know what I was doing with the other rhythms. With this band, who come more from the reggae world, I can still do something pensive or panoramic, but then do something lively to get people up to dance."
In Ken Burns' Jazz documentary, there was a photo of jazz club after the war with a sign up that said, "No Dancing."
"That's the beginning of the loss of what made jazz infectious. It's like next they're going to say, ‘Don't tap your foot.' I just love the idea that when I play, I can see out of the corner of my eye, people want to get up and dance. I come from a tradition in Jamaica where that's the great thing--the rhythm. Some of my heroes, that's what they were about. Duke Ellington played for dancers."
Some jazz players would say dance music is too simple.
"Well, no person of substance and thoughtfulness is going to think like that. Maybe I'm very simple-minded. It's folk music. Folk music is what brings folks together. When I tap into that, I connect to a man's or a woman's spirit. That's what I'm all about. Playing music is like a church experience."
Louis Armstrong said that all music is folk music, he never heard a horse make music.
"Right, that's it! Another reason I'm doing this reggae is I'm fed up with the stuffiness of the jazz thing. I don't mean the musicians, but the people around it, the record company people, and the experts who say who's good, who's not good. I don't like to be with that all the time, so let me go home. I realize how wonderful now home is."
So, reggae feels like home?
"The roots of reggae is what I grew up with. Reggae is a mental thing, it's a feeling, it's a common language that we speak and it's a cultural thing. Of course, Bob Marley used a lot of R&B, blues and jazz influences, with a churchy kind of sound, too."
But Bob Marley's music is more than just dance music, it's a religious, spiritual experience.
"Very much. when Bob Marley was writing this, he was going to source of information that is divine inspiration. His belief and faith and energy is put into marvelous vignettes that have these incredible rhythms. They stick with you because that glue's in there. It's all very simple, but deeply heavy."
How does it feel to play his music?
"I approach his music as a living thing. When I add my spice and we take elements form what he's doing and put it in the mix, it's carrying what he did. The musicians are into it. Doing reggae is more than just playing. You know that at some point in the concert, it's giving people the feeling of positive. I like that."