Alex Henderson

On the Cover

Monty Alexander: Rastamonk

By Alex Henderson



Well over half a century has passed since pianist Monty Alexander left his native Kingston, Jamaica to move to the United States and establish himself on the New York City jazz scene. Yet the 75-year-old Alexander continues to pay homage to the Caribbean music he was surrounded by growing up in Kingston. He combines elements of jazz, reggae and funk on his newest album, the Thelonious Monk tribute Wareika Hill: Rastamonk Vibrations.

“I found out that Thelonious grew up in New York City among a whole community of island people, meaning Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica,” Alexander says. “And when I heard his songs, I felt the island rhythm in a lot of them.”

Well over half a century has passed since pianist Monty Alexander left his native Kingston, Jamaica to move to the United States and establish himself on the New York City jazz scene. Yet the 75-year-old Alexander continues to pay homage to the Caribbean music he was surrounded by growing up in Kingston. He combines elements of jazz, reggae and funk on his newest album, the Thelonious Monk tribute Wareika Hill: Rastamonk Vibrations.

“I found out that Thelonious grew up in New York City among a whole community of island people, meaning Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica,” Alexander says. “And when I heard his songs, I felt the island rhythm in a lot of them.”

The core of Wareika Hill is Alexander’s band Harlem-Kingston Express. Guests include tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano on “Green Chimneys”, guitarist John Scofield on “Bye-Ya”, tenor saxophonist Ron Blake on “San Francisco Holiday” and tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery on “Misterioso”, “Nutty”, “Rhythm-a-Ning”, “Brilliant Corners” and other selections. Both Blake and Escoffery have a Caribbean connection: the former was born in the Virgin Islands while the latter was born in London to Jamaican parentage.

On “Brilliant Corners”, one hears the influence of the late Augustus Pablo—a reggae instrumentalist known for the mystical qualities in his work—as well as ‘70s dubwise toasters like King Tubby, I-Roy, U-Roy and Big Youth. “Brilliant Corners” finds Alexander playing the instrument Pablo was known for: melodica. “One of my great favorites is all that came out of dub, like King Tubby,” Alexander says. “When Augustus Pablo passed on, I made an original recording of one of his tunes and his wife, his widow, phoned me and sent me a message of how much she appreciated that I had remembered her husband. It touched me greatly when that happened. ‘Brilliant Corners’ was a tip of the hat to the dub scene.”

When Wareika Hill was in the planning stages, Alexander decided that his Harlem-Kingston Express would be the foundation of the lineup. But as the project moved along, he added guest musicians he knew would be adventurous enough to embrace both the reggae element and Monk’s repertoire. “The men in this Harlem/Kingston Express, as I call it, have such a spirit of brotherhood and kinship among them—and they trust my judgement, which isn’t always perfect but most times is something to enjoy,” Alexander explains. “So I started playing Monk’s music for them: this one lends itself to a dancehall rhythm, this one lends itself to a one-drop rhythm. And I invited Joe Lovano, I invited John Scofield, Wayne Escoffery. I go straightahead or I go roots Jamaica. That’s what the record is.”

The recording sessions for Wareika Hill went so well, according to Alexander, that he has some leftover performances he may release in 2020: “There are about six more tracks that didn’t make it onto the CD. I’m thinking about releasing those tracks after the holidays and keeping it alive—hopefully, it stays alive. You can’t be upset when you’re on the jazz chart and it sounds like reggae.”

It was through a Rastafarian that Alexander first discovered Monk’s music. Born in Kingston on Jun. 6th, 1944, Alexander was around eight years old when he became aware of the Rastafarian sect. Though later closely identified with ska and then reggae, in 1952, mento was still the dominant music in Jamaica.

“As a kid,” Alexander recalls, “I first encountered, right near my home, the Rastamen of Jamaica, the Rastafarians, which are the people that have that religious philosophy that is quite unique. To most people, that’s the cornerstone of, for example, Bob Marley’s music and philosophies and so on and so forth. I would see two or three of those guys going up the hill, carrying big pieces of wood, and they would go burn the wood up in their hill and have their religious services. And you’d hear the drum rhythm; they’d be chanting and, man, you would hear them playing their drums late in the night.”Alexander listened to plenty of jazz growing up but his interest intensified after meeting the members of The Skatalites, the pioneering ska band whose saxophonists Tommy McCook and Roland Alphonso and trombonist Don Drummond were greatly influenced by jazz. “I was an active member of a lot of that early ska music, playing with those musicians that called themselves The Skatalites,” Alexander explains. “They were all jazz-minded musicians: real jazz people who dug Charlie Parker, but they had their Jamaican lifestyle. And I would sneak out of school to go play on those early sessions. So one day, one of those musicians—who was a Rastafarian himself—started to tell me about this musician who was named Thelonious Monk.”

After moving to the U.S. in 1961, Alexander got a lucky break when he had a chance to play with the iconic traditional pop singer Frank Sinatra. Alexander recorded his first album as a leader, Alexander The Great, for Pacific Jazz in 1964 and the ‘60s found him getting to know everyone from trumpeter Miles Davis to vibraphonist Milt Jackson and bassist Ray Brown. Alexander also met Monk himself in Manhattan in the ‘60s. Alexander remembers. “I rode in an elevator with him—something to never be forgotten. He was fascinating, a different kind of cat. I knew somebody who lived in the building where Thelonious lived, which was near Lincoln Center. One time, I was on the 22nd floor. I was going to go down in the elevator after visiting my friend and I see Thelonious in the corner of my eye. Thelonious was wearing this thick wool coat and he gets in the elevator. I acknowledged him, he acknowledged me. He stood in front of the elevator buttons and I think he was messing with me: he pressed 5-3-2 as if it was a calculator. We went to the 5th floor, the 3rd floor, the 2nd floor. I get off at the lobby and he stays in the elevator and plays more adding machine on the elevator buttons. And I said, ‘This man is from another planet’, which was a part of what made him Thelonious.”

Alexander has a long history of bringing Caribbean influence into a jazz setting: using steel drums on Jamboree (Concord, 1988); reggae icon Marley on Stir It Up: The Music of Bob Marley (Telarc, 1999); and joining forces with drummer Lowell “Sly” Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare, one of reggae’s most famous production/session duos, on Monty Meets Sly & Robbie (Telarc, 2000).

“I knew Sly Dunbar very well,” Alexander says. “I didn’t know Robbie as well, but Robbie intrigued me because he was pure street—a soul food street brother. He would take you right to the ghetto, the street corner. Sly was coming from the rhythm and I had a very good connection with him. We always talk about going back and doing another record together. We just haven’t gotten to it yet.”One of the jazz greats Alexander has bonded with over the years is tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Rollins is famous for combining hardbop and calypso, going back to his recording of “St. Thomas” in 1956. The pair have had many conversations about the jazz/Caribbean connection.

“Sonny Rollins talks about that island rhythm,” Alexander says. “I know Mr. Sonny Rollins quite well: he shares these thoughts personally with me.”

Another traditional pop influence is Tony Bennett, who Alexander listened to growing up in Jamaica. He paid tribute to the singer on his 2008 Chesky release The Good Life: Monty Alexander Plays the Songs of Tony Bennett. “From an early age, I heard Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, and I remember my mother singing Tony Bennett songs,” Alexander says. “So I made that particular record, The Good Life, for Chesky. Somebody—I don’t know who—took that record to Tony Bennett. And I got a call from Tony, who invited me to play on his next record, A Swingin’ Christmas. It was nice: I made a record about Tony Bennett and I heard from the man himself.”

Alexander has been living in the U.S. for nearly 60 years but has never abandoned the Caribbean culture he absorbed in Jamaica. “When I came to America in the ‘60s, I never lost the vibes of Jamaica and what was going on in Jamaica,” Alexander stresses. “I was in New York hanging out with Wes Montgomery, Cannonball Adderley, Wynton Kelly, very respected jazz musicians. The next thing I knew, I was hanging out with Miles Davis. But I never forgot my roots. So yeah, I’ve been living in two worlds. And Wareika Hill is one example of how I bring the two together. When you’re an immigrant and that heritage is deep down in your bones, you’re just not getting away from it.”

For more information, visit montyalexander.com. Alexander is at Birdland Dec. 17th-21st. See Calendar.

Recommended Listening:

• Monty Alexander—Alexander The Great (Pacific Jazz, 1964)

• Monty Alexander—Montreux Alexander—Live! (MPS, 1976)

• Milt Jackson—Mostly Duke (Pablo, 1982)

• Monty Alexander—At Maybeck (Maybeck Recital Hall Series, Volume Forty) (Concord, 1994)

• Ray Brown—Ray Brown/Monty Alexander/ Russell Malone (Telarc Jazz, 2002)

• Monty Alexander—Wareika Hill: Rastamonk Vibrations (s/r, 2016-19)