1. Hurricane Come and Gone/Moonlight City
2. People Make the World Go Round
3. Concierto de Aranjuez
4. Sleaky
5. Trust
6. The Harder They Come
7. The River Rolls On
8. What’s Going On (Wa’a Gwan)
9. Love Notes
10. Skamento
11. Linstead Market
12. Redemption Song
13. Regulator (Reggae-Later)
Monty Alexander - Piano, melodica, vocals
Hassan Shakur – Acoustic bass
Obed Calvaire, Karl Wright, Frits Landesbergen – Drums
Joshua Thomas – Electric bass
Courtney Panton – Electric bass, percussion
Yotam Silberstein, Andy Bassford – Guitar
Earl Appleton – Keyboards
Caterina Zapponi, Wendel “Jr. Jazz” Ferraro – Vocals
Guests on track 9 – George Benson, Ramsey Lewis, Joe Sample
This album is the sequel to Harlem–Kingston Express Live! which Monty Alexander recorded in 2011. That album fused jazz with reggae, in the same
style as Monty had already explored with his Ivory and Steel excursions and such CDs as Yard Movement. That fusion can be experienced in the very
first track here, which starts with a Caribbean rhythm before seguing into a swinging four-four for the solos. Monty has an ear for both styles, having
been born and brought up in Jamaica before moving in 1961 to the USA, where he played with such jazz stars as Ray Brown and Milt Jackson. His Jamaican
background has given him an astute rhythmic awareness, and you can sense the influence of reggae and mento in much of his work. On many tracks in this CD,
the drummer plays clicks on the fourth beat of the bar but, by the time we reach What’s Going On, the clicks transfer to emphasise the third beat
– a rhythm typical of reggae.
Monty’s Jamaican background can be heard in such tracks as The Harder They Come, Jimmy Cliff’s song from the 1972 film of the same name. The
reggae influence is strong here, as it is in the traditional Linstead Market, one of three songs recorded live (tracks 11 to 13). But there are
touches of reggae in several other tracks, such as People Make the World Go Round, a 1972 hit for the Stylistics, and Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On.
Monty Alexander takes most of the solos himself and his buoyant piano lifts such pieces as Concierto de Aranjuez, a meditation on Joaquín
Rodrigo’s best-known composition. Monty also tackles some vocals but he is not the world’s greatest singer and he doesn’t always make the lyrics clear. Love Notes introduces three famous guests: George Benson, Ramsey Lewis and Joe Sample. Unfortunately it is not clear what contribution each of
them makes to the track, although one guesses that Benson adds his guitar while Lewis and Sample provide some of the piano interjections.
This whole album transmits some warm West Indian sunshine through the good-natured
playing of Monty Alexander and his colleagues. And it proves once
again that reggae makes a nice mix with jazz.
Tony Augarde
www.augardebooks.co.uk
CD Reviews
Motema 233828
