1. Montgomery Bernard "Monty" Alexander OJ CD was born on 6 June 1944 and is a Jamaican American jazz pianist.
20 Facts About Monty Alexander
1. 2.
Monty Alexander's playing has a Caribbean influence and bright swinging feeling, with a strong vocabulary of bebop jazz and blues rooted melodies.
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Monty Alexander was influenced by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner, Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, Les McCann, and Frank Sinatra.
4.
Monty Alexander is known for his surprising musical twists, bright rhythmic sense, and intense dramatic musical climaxes.
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Monty Alexander's recording career has covered many of the well-known American songbook standards, jazz standards, pop hits, and Jamaican songs from his original homeland.
6.
Monty Alexander was born on 6 June 1944 in Kingston, Jamaica.
7.
Monty Alexander discovered the piano when he was four years old and seemed to have a knack for picking melodies out by ear.
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Monty Alexander's mother sent him to classical music lessons at the age of six and he became interested in jazz piano at the age of 14.
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Monty Alexander boarded at DeCarteret College in Mandeville, then continued his education and musical prowess at Jamaica College.
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Two years later, Alexander directed a dance orchestra and played in the local clubs covering much of the 1960s early rock and pop dance hits.
11.
One night Monty Alexander was brought to the attention of Frank Sinatra and Frank's friend Jilly Rizzo.
12.
Monty Alexander became friendly with Miles Davis, both men sharing a love of watching boxing matches.
13.
In Los Angeles, in 1964, Monty Alexander recorded his first album, Monty Alexander the Great, for Pacific Jazz, at the age of 20.
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Monty Alexander recorded with Milt Jackson in 1969, with Ernest Ranglin in 1974 and in Europe the same year with Ed Thigpen.
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Monty Alexander toured regularly in Europe and recorded there, mostly with his classic trio for MPS Records.
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Monty Alexander toured around 1976 with the steelpan player Othello Molineaux.
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Monty Alexander has played with several singers, among them Ernestine Anderson and Mary Stallings, as well as with other important leaders.
18.
Monty Alexander formed a reggae band in the 1990s, featuring all Jamaican musicians.
19.
Monty Alexander collaborated again with Ranglin in 2004 on the album Rocksteady.
20.
Monty Alexander married the American jazz guitarist Emily Remler in 1981.