CaribPR Wire

…. As Alexander Gears Up For Six-City Tour

CaribPR Wire, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Aug. 16, 2017: A French journalist’s comparison of the fluidity of the strides of recently retired Jamaican Olympic legend Usain Bolt to the agile hands of Grammy-nominated, Jamaican jazz great, Monty Alexander, on a piano, has left the virtuoso speechless.

Alexander said he was shocked recently, when while reading journalist David Gakunzi’s piece, ‘Bolt: La course manqué,’ he realized the writer had compared his hands, furiously playing one of his classics, ‘Take The A Train,’ to the strides of the world’s greatest athlete.

“To conquer the sky once more … his steps as fluid as the agile hands of Monty Alexander revisiting ‘Take the A train’ on a furious piano, marking history one last time,” Gakunzi wrote in French in his August 14, 2017 piece in La Regle Du Jeu.

“It is definitely a unique comparison,” Alexander commented recently. “I never thought of it that way but I know for me, similarly to Usain Bolt, I want to help to bring more good will and see Jamaica rise to its highest potential wherever I go.”

Alexander, who has been presented with the Commander In The Order Of Distinction for outstanding services to his homeland as a worldwide music ambassador, is set for a six-city tour across the US, beginning tomorrow, August 17^th.

The one-of-a-kind musician will play the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 17, 2017. Tickets for this one-time performance are $43.50 – $48.50 and can be purchased here.

On Friday, August 18^th, Alexander will play one show only at the Smith Center in Las Vegas from 7 p.m. Tickets are $39 – $59 and can be purchased here. On Saturday, August 19^th, the man widely known as an upper echelon master of the swinging piano trio function, will travel to California for three performances. On Saturday night at 5 and 8 p.m., respectively, he will play the Lesher Theatre. Tickets are on sale now and can be bought here.

On Sunday August 20^th, Alexander will play a sold-out matinee show at Jazz at Filoli in Woodwide, CA and on Monday, August 21^st, the top pianist will play the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in n Santa Cruz, CA from 7 p.m. Tickets are $30-35 and can be purchased here.

Alexander will wrap up his six-city performance with back-to-back shows at Dazzle’s Jazz in Denver, CO from Tuesday August 22^nd to Wednesday, Aug. 23^rd. Showtime nightly is 8:30 p.m. and tickets from $20 – $45 can be obtained here now.

ABOUT ALEXANDER

Alexander is one of the most sought after jazz pianists in the world and is ranked in the top five in ‘The Fifty Greatest Piano Players of All Time.’ Soon after moving to the U.S. from his native Jamaica, his amazing talent caught the ears of Frank Sinatra and Jilly Rizzo, and he was hired as house pianist at Jilly’s, New York City’s famed club, where he worked with some of the top names in jazz. Fifty-five years after he moved to the United States from Kingston, Jamaica, he has become an American classic. Whether playing straight jazz, Jamaican Reggae, Soul, or the music of his idols, Nat ‘King’ Cole and Frank Sinatra, Alexander’s energy and vibrancy, coupled with his musical prowess on the piano, will astound fans anywhere. He tours the world relentlessly with various projects, delighting a global audience drawn to his effervescent personality and soulful message. His spirited conception is one informed by the timeless verities: endless melody-making, effervescent grooves, sophisticated voicings, a romantic spirit, and a consistent predisposition. As Alexander, himself, sums it up: “To build up the heat and kick up a storm.”

For more on Monty Alexander and his music visit him on YouTube or at montyalexander.com. You can also like him on Facebook at facebook.com/officialmontyalexander or keep up to date on his performance on Twitter at @montyHKE.

Media Contact:

Felicia Persaud

Hard Beat Communications

718-476-3616

[email protected]

Click Here for More Information »

CaribPR Wire, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Jan. 10, 2017: Grammy-nominated, award-winning Jamaican jazz pianist and band leader, Monty Alexander, will begin the New Year in fine style as he returns to the Jazz Standard, one of NYC’s renowned jazz clubs, from Jan. 31st to Feb. 4, 2017 for ten shows under the theme: “Looking Back.”

Alexander kicks off a five-night series of shows on January 31^st by looking back on his career of pure jazz performances as he remembers and revisits his musical journey in jazz and jazz collaborations with some of the greatest giants of the genre between 1959 and 1977.

On Jan. 31^st and Feb. 1^st, Alexander, along with special guests Warren Wolf, (vibraphone), and Ron Blake, (tenor sax), will reprise songs from the Impulse! LP: ‘That’s The Way It Is,’ an outstanding album by the Milt Jackson Quintet – featuring Alexander, Ray Brown and Teddy Edwards that was recorded live in 1969 at Shelly Manne’s Manne–Hole in Los Angeles.

On Feb. 2, 2017, the jazz maestro, whose “right-hand lines ring out with the power of a great vocalist” according to NPR, will remember legends Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson and Norman Granz and Jazz at the Philharmonic/Montreux 1977.

The show wraps up on Friday, Feb. 3^rd and Saturday, Feb. 4^th with a special Jamaican fusion spotlight as Alexander, Jamaica’s Commander of Distinction, and his band, the Harlem-Kingston Express, bring the vibes of his beloved homeland to their fans, while remembering Clement Seymour “Sir Coxsone” Dodd, CD and Studio One, one of Jamaica’s most influential record producer whose record label and recording studio has been described as the ‘Motown of Jamaica.’

Show times are 7:30 and 9:30 P.M. nightly. Caribbean and other jazz fans who call New York City home can secure their tickets for the shows here or by logging on to the Jazz Standard website. Tickets are $35 for per show from Jan. 31^st to Feb. 2^nd and $40 per show from Feb. 3^rd – 4th.

For over a decade, the Jazz Standard, at 116 E 27th St, New York, NY, has been setting the standard for world-class jazz, warm hospitality, pitch-perfect sound and award-winning Southern cuisine and barbecue in an intimate and comfortable environment.

Alexander is an American classic. His performances have been called pure magic by many journalists and jazz fans around the world and his sets are undoubtedly “a refined concept of groove.” This extraordinary musician continues to tour the world relentlessly with various projects, delighting a global audience drawn to his vibrant personality and soulful message. His energetic pieces, documented on more than 70 CDs, draws upon the timeless verities: endless melody-making, effervescent grooves, sophisticated voicings, a romantic spirit, and a consistent predisposition “to build up the heat and kick up a storm,” as Alexander puts it.

In the course of any given performance, Alexander applies those aesthetics to a repertoire spanning a broad range of jazz and Jamaican musical expression – the American songbook and the blues, gospel and bebop, calypso and reggae. Like his “eternal inspiration” – Erroll Garner -  Alexander is cited as the fifth greatest jazz pianist ever in The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time (Hal Leonard Publishing) and mentioned in Robert Doerschuk’s ‘88: The Giants of Jazz Piano.’

Alexander’s voluminous discography includes albums for many labels including MPS, Concord Music, Island Jazz, Telarc and Studio One. Two of his most fondly remembered professional associations was with legendary jazz entrepreneur and producer Norman Granz, who conceived of Jazz at the Philharmonic back in the late 40’s/50’s and “Sir Coxsone Dodd.” The pianist recorded “Monty and the Cyclones” between 1959-1961 for Studio One and released three LPs on Granz’s Pablo label in the 70’s – Jamento (1978), In Tokyo (1979), and Soul Fusion (1978) by Milt Jackson & The Monty Alexander Trio.

For more on Monty Alexander and his music visit him on YouTube or at montyalexander.com. You can also like him on Facebook at facebook.com/officialmontyalexander or keep up to date on his performance on Twitter at @montyHKE.

Media Contact:

Felicia Persaud

Hard Beat Communications

718-476-3616

[email protected]

Click Here for More Information »