ONE OF THE OVERLOOKED STRENGHTS OF AMERICA IS THE RICHNESS OF ITS HERITAGE.
SURE, SOME OF US LIKE TEARING DOWN OUR HISTORY. BUT THOSE PEOPLE HAVE NEVER LIVED ANYWHERE ELSE. MUSICIANS AND PEOPLE LIKE PIANIST MONTY ALEXANDER EMBODY ALL THAT IS GREAT ABOUT THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT.
BORN AND RAISED IN JAMAICA, ALEXANDER CAME TO AMERICA AND IMBIBED AMERICAS WATERS OF CULTURE WITH ENTHUSIASM. HE NEVER LOST HIS ROOTS, HOWEVER, ALWAYS INCLUDING A REGGAE LILT IN MOST OF HIS RECORDINGS. EVEN HIS MOST RECENT ALBUM, LOVE NOTES, HAS ALEXANDER INTERPRETING CLASSIC AMERICAN SONGBOOK TUNES AND GIVING THEM A CARIBBEAN SPICE.
HIS MUSICAL JOURNEY HAS TAKEN HIM TO STINTS WITH RAY BROWN, MILT JACKSON, DIZZY GILLESPIE AND EVEN BOXING MATCHES WITH MILES DAVIS. HOW CAN YOU NOT GET EXCITED ABOUT AMERICA WITH AN EDUCATION LIKE THAT?!?
IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN ALEXANDER IN CONCERT, YOU’RE MISSING A TREAT, AS EACH SHOW INCLUDES A SALUTE TO JAZZ GREATS LIKE MILES DAVIS OR DUKE ELLINGTON AS WELL AS A JOURNEY TO THE ROOTS OF JAZZ. EVEN A CONVERSATION WITH ALEXANDER IS LIKE TAKING A COURSE OF THE MUSICAL HISTORY OF THIS GREAT COUNTRY, AS HIS APPRECIATION OF THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE EMBARASSES THOSE WHO HAVE GROWN UP HERE AND TAKE OUR COUNTRY’S RICHNESS FOR GRANTED.
WE RECENTLY HAD A CONVERSATION WITH MR. ALEXANDER, AND LIKE HIS MUSIC, HE WAS ENTHUSIASTIC, ENGAGING AND EDUCATIONAL.
I SAW YOU IN CONCERT ONE TIME ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO WHEN YOU HAD TWO DRUMMERS; ONE WAS A “REGGAE” DRUMMER AND THE OTHER WAS TOOTIE HEATH. WHAT WAS THE THOUGHT PROCESS OF SUCH A UNIQUE KIND OF PIANO QUARTET?
I come from two environments. One is from Jamaica, where I was born and raised, and from a very young age I was affected by American music. The rhythm was so infectious; it affected your whole makeup and anatomy. You start grooving to it.
It’s two different worlds, but I brought them together because of the one drummer, Tootie, doing the fabulous and intricate drum things, while the other drummer represents the essence of uniquely and specifically where he comes from. It was not just “a” drummer, but who the drummer was.
Whereas I’ve had a combo with just one great drummer, I loved the idea of playing music that reflected both the Jamaican and American experience. I came up in American digging on what you called “Rhythm and Blues” as well as my first jazz, which was Duke Ellington and those people.
So when I had two drummers, I could choose while I’m playing whether I would visit my roots or my new American status. It created a marvelous occasion that I could enjoy each style authentically. It’s about authenticity , not where one guy just learned how to play a certain kind of beat when he was at school. If you are born and raised in that environment you are going to reflect it even more so than the guy who went to school.
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“If you are born and raised in that environment you are going to reflect it even more so than the guy who went to school”
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IT MADE PERFECT SENSE, AND IT WAS BRILLIANT IN IT’S CONCEPT
It’s not so brilliant, it’s just that no one was as wacky as me to stick my neck out like that. If you have a combo, and you’re being paid to play in a place, nobody should come with two drummers, because you’ve got another guy to pay! (laughs)
But I don’t care I have someone to pay. Some guys have a bass player and a drummer and a saxophone or trombone player. Me? I want rhythm. Rhythm is the essence of life. My heart beats to the sun coming up in the morning, and its in everything we do.
Here’s the trick. With the Jamaican and American rhythms, I like each one more than the other. (laughs)
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“Rhythm is the essence of life. My heart beats to the sun coming up in the morning, and its in everything we do”
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YOUR LATEST ALBUM IS A REFLECTION OF THIS. SOME OF THE SONGS ARE STANDARDS WITH A REGGAE PULSE, BUT OTHERS ARE STRAIGHT JAZZ INTERPRETATIONS WITH YOU AS A VOCALIST.
This is one more example of me living out my life.
Those songs are classic standards that go back to my youth when I first heard on the radio in my humble Jamaican home when the radio station would be playing everything from rhythm and blues and country/western to classical. I was hearing all of these kinds of music. I’d hear Rachmaninoff and Chopin and then Elvis Presley and then Fats Domino or Louis Armstrong.
I’d hear all of this music genres and it was all equally wonderful. I didn’t even know what was jazz.
What is jazz? It was just music styles on the dial.
A big part of my childhood was when I heard songs on the radio when I was four years old. I heard Bing Crosby, Nat “King” Cole, Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, and I saw Louis Armstrong as a kid. So, I wanted to do something that reflected on that time vault when I fell in love with music for the first time.
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“I hold onto the legacy of knowing all of these great men that made this music. It’s a part of life; It’s America.
Some people think that the best thing about America is Coca Cola, but for lack of a better word, it’s “jazz”. It’s America’s greatest gift”
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I heard all of these songs as a kid, and I thought that I want to put them down on a record . The vocal thing is adequate. Let’s face it-I’m no Pavarotti, but I’m up to par. I wanted to do something that is identified with my own experience; I’m not trying to be like somebody else.
I put my own old wine into new bottles. The bottles that I put them in was my Jamaican experience. It’s not just reggae or this or that; it’s connected to things that are island oriented.
The whole other key is that these are all simple songs of romance and love. When people hear ***these melodies, they get certain feelings of things that they used to have a lot in music, romantic songs. You may notice that this kind of music is fading away.
I’m a guy who reaches back into my fond memories of earlier days. Those times were wonderful.
I kind of did it for me, as well as the people who were reflective of that period. This is the early 60s, before Bob Marley came along. It is a wacky thing, and I was glad to do it. It’s being received by people who appreciate that specific thing.
In our jazz world, I’m happy to have been with some of the greatest of musicians in our whole history, having worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson and Ray Brown. I call them “Royalty”. I have that as part of me, which is like our folk music.
People always say, “This is jazz. That is jazz. Is that jazz?” Jazz to me is such a quirky word that you can’t put your finger on it. To me jazz is democracy.
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“People always say, “This is jazz. That is jazz. Is that jazz?” Jazz to me is such a quirky word that you can’t put your finger on it. To me jazz is democracy”
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YOUR ALBUM MAY BE THE LAST ONE WITH TRUMPETER ROY HARGROVE. ANY REFELCTIONS OF THAT TIME, AND HIS RESPONSE TO THE REGGAE FEEL?
The album is classic American standards with an island attitude.
Reggae can mean a host of things. To some it is a political music. Most of Marley’s music was political or social statements about self respect and people who are unfortunate.
I remember when Roy first came up from Texas and he was an astounding, gifted young guy, coming from that legacy of Clifford Brown and Miles Davis. Roy was versatile and diverse; to him it was all good. I can’t tell you what was in his heart of hearts, but he tapped into and was able to assume that vibe. He was already playing with hip hop and Cuban artists. HE was a guy who liked all different genres and styles.
So, Roy being this open-minded guy, came into the studio, and had two listenings to the track, and just jumped into the music with his own ideas. I didn’t say “Hey, Roy, try this, or do that”. He played it, and the integrity was all there.
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“With the Jamaican and American rhythms, I like each one more than the other. (laughs)”
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DID YOU FEEL INTIMIDATED SINGING ON A SONG WITH GEORGE BENSON PLAYING GUITAR?
Let’s put it this way,
When you know somebody from when you were in your early 20s, and George and I are about the same age. I met at Minto’s Playhouse in Harlem back in 1967; we have an experience of a very personal friendship.
Two other days, this other man that meant so much to me, as a person and what he did for music, Ramsey Lewis, passed away. I also knew him from the early 60s, and loved his friendship. When you know each other, you say “Come on over and let’s do a tune” and they say “Absolutely”. It’s not business; it’s friends. I ask them to bless my album.
That’s how it is with Ramsey Lewis, Roy Hargrove, George Benson, Joe Sample and Arturo Sandoval. I ask them to come and put a little extra fun on the whole thing. That’s what the whole Love Notes album is about. We were brought together because we are friends, and all these gentlemen love these kinds of songs.
When you think about George Benson and his fabulous gifts, he is another reflection of Nat “King” Cole. He’s one of the greatest guitarists, but he’s also got that dynamic voice. He can sing like anything! And he is still out there wailing.
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“The album is classic American standards with an island attitude”
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WHAT DID YOU LEARN PLAYING WITH MILT JACKSON?
Good question.
First, you meet these people who are royalty, because they’ve been there, done that from the beginning. They come up from the neighborhood; meaning they aren’t “sophisticated”. I’m not against schools, academies or conservatories, but I didn’t go to any of these schools; I’m a street guy. I learned from picking it up from the air.
Milt was that way too. He came up in Detroit, and his influence was the church. He grew up going to the Gospel Baptist Church, and he picked up those music sentiments like choir singing. Mahalia Jackson, Dinah Washington and all of these people came out of the church.
Milt didn’t sing, but he put those songs on his vibes. When he played, he combined his raw expression and soul. When Milt played, his soul came out, not like some guy just talking on the vibes; he told a story when he played. He could just play two choruses of a song, and it was so dynamic people would scream in excitement. He was like if you heard a gospel singer.
As a person, he didn’t play around. When he came to play his music, it was like “Hey, this is like life and death”
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“I’m not against schools, academies or conservatories, but I didn’t go to any of these schools; I’m a street guy. I learned from picking it up from the air”
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We established a fine friendship. It was like how Miles felt with Cannonball; there was a personal aspect to the music. The best jazz is people who got to know each other who came from a similar environment. They would go into a recording studio, but one guy would say, “hey, you owe me some money” and they might have a little quarrel, but when they started rolling the recording tape, you can feel that energy of two people who respect each other. It’s not from a school book; it’s from real life.
That’s who Milt Jackson was. And by the way, he was a disciple of Dizzy Gillespie.
When you talk about Dizzy, he spawned a bunch of people who came along. Dizzy was a funny guy and he made a lot of humorous stuff, but when he came to blow that horn, he took no prisoners. He influenced Miles Davis in a big, big way. Dizzy taught him.
It’s a funny little scene of jazz that I came to from Jamaica in the early 60s. I was just so fortunate to meet, be accepted by and embraced as a guy who was just 17-18 years old and playing music with these guys where so admired and respected.
It’s a tricky thing when you have one foot in the New York way of thinking in the Concrete Jungle (as I put it) and another foot in The Yard
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“It’s a tricky thing when you have one foot in the New York way of thinking in the Concrete Jungle (as I put it) and another foot in The Yard”
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WHAT WAS THE BEST ADVICE RAY BROWN GAVE YOU?
(chuckles)
Ray Brown was a larger than life guy.
He saw me as the Young Guy playing with the Older Guys.
This is one of the rare times when a wise, older guy had such an impact on a young guy. He would play just that one note on the bass, one note at a time, and “boom” it was such a profound note, with such a sense of rhythm. He had impeccable intonation.
And his spirit! The Spirit of Ray came out when he played bass, with a lot of bluesy stuff. It was so easy for me when I started playing with him when we started. He loved it when we played together. From the moment he counted the tempo off we had a blast; joy, screaming, all on the bandstand.
He would say to me, “You should try to play with some younger guys.” Why do I want to play with younger guys? They don’t know so much. They’re not experienced; they’re young punks.
The older guys were my heroes. I was playing with guys 10-20 years older. Ray believed in keeping the music alive. He knew some day he’d be gone, and he is, but he passed it on to me, and he wanted others to pick up what he was about.
He had a deep principle of when you play your instrument, play it with absolute excellence, perfect rhythm, and a deep respect for what you’re doing, but there was one word that he used a lot in the world of jazz, and that was something called “swinging”. He wanted you to shake the room when you play that music.
The spirit invades what you’re doing; it’s not just like a recital in classical music. The great classical music is the same as the great jazz music, but a lot of it is just a guy playing a piece.
It should be almost like a church experience, where it’s bringing up your spirit. It’s really a spiritual thing. That’s why it became so important in the American lexicon. This thing is life and death to some people.
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“When you know each other, you say “Come on over and let’s do a tune” and they say “Absolutely”. It’s not business; it’s friends. I ask them to bless my album”
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SPEAKING OF LIFE AND DEATH, WHAT IS IT LIKE WATCHING BOXING MATCHES WITH MILES DAVIS?
I’m 18, 19, 20, 21; I’m blurry about when I first met him. He heard me playing at a certain club, and he asked me afterward where I learned to play like that. He said I didn’t look like I was going to p lay that way. I looked like I was from Cuba or Puerto Rico. You can’t tell where some of us Jamaicans are from.
He befriended me. He gave me his phone number. He said “come on by my house” and I started going up to Harlem to visit Miles a lot.
When he found out I was a deep fan of boxing, he made another friend. He loved to talk about that stuff.
His hero away from jazz was Sugar Ray Robinson. He thought he was the greatest pound for pound boxer. He idolized him.
I knew about Sugar Ray. He was the pugilist who was the inspiration for Muhammed Ali. We talked about Robinson, Ali, Joe Louis. He’d get all excited. He’d go to the gym and he wanted to think that he was as going to be another Sugar Ray Robinson if he ever got into a fight! (laughs) . He had a punch, and he could knock you out. It’s all about how you throw the punch. I know it sounds brutal, but hey, that’s what it is.
Going to see boxing with Miles was like hanging out with a buddy. He’s older than me, he’s wiser than me; but with me he had that kind of guy you could hang out with and think the same way.
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“there was one word that (Ray Brown) used a lot in the world of jazz, and that was something called “swinging”. He wanted you to shake the room when you play that music”
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When I saw fighters in Jamaica under the lights, it was like watching musicians play on the stage. It was that same feeling of excitement. It all had to do with what we’ve been talking about, the word “rhythm”.
It’s like a tennis court; what’s going on with Serena Williams when she takes the racquet and hits the ball..
With boxing, it’s that fine tuning thing and if you’ve got your rhythm together where you’re responding to the guy you’re boxing with, it’s the rhythm of the whole thing is what makes it have that feeling of fear.
It’s like when Ray Brown is playing with Art Blakey; they take off and it starts swinging.
This is my way of looking at stuff, as I didn’t go to music school, so I used these experiences to make music so vital to life
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“(Miles) talked about Robinson, Ali, Joe Louis. He’d get all excited. He’d go to the gym and he wanted to think that he was as going to be another Sugar Ray Robinson if he ever got into a fight! (laughs) . He had a punch, and he could knock you out. It’s all about how you throw the punch. I know it sounds brutal, but hey, that’s what it is”
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IT’S LIKE THAT CLASSIC LINE BY DUKE ELLINGTON ,”HE DIDN’T GO TO SCHOOL LONG ENOUGH TO RUIN HIS PLAYING”
Louis Armstrong said “music is life”. It means so much to so many people.
It’s a therapeutic thing. I can go into some little place, and people come into the club, pay 20-30 bucks. They come in to be uplifted. So I can have an experience that is educational and somewhat meaningful, but behind it all they’re coming to have a little enjoyment.
Just like Armstrong. When Armstrong got on the bandstand, he made the audience know right away that this man was going to take his talent and make people be happy.
Duke did the same thing. He talked to the audience.
By the way, I met these people. I met Armstrong when I was 8 years old, and met Duke in New York, and played a little piano for Duke. I hold onto the legacy of knowing all of these great men that made this music. It’s a part of life; It’s America.
Some people think that the best thing about America is Coca Cola, but for lack of a better word, it’s “jazz”. It’s America’s greatest gift.
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“With boxing, it’s that fine tuning thing and if you’ve got your rhythm together where you’re responding to the guy you’re boxing with, it’s the rhythm of the whole thing is what makes it have that feeling of fear”
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YOU ALSO GREW UP IN THE CHURCH. HOW HAS THE CHURCH AFFECTED YOUR MUSIC AND LIFE?
If you’re having a bad day, it’s not a drink at the bar that you should reach for. Some people have fallen victim to chemical substances. The best way to live is to exercise your faith.
You have that faith that you picked up on when you were a kid, when your parents said, “All right, we’re going to go to church”. You might say, “Ah, gotta go to church”. But you go to church, and you hear the good news, the gospel. You hear it first from the people of the Jewish faith, then the Catholic faith, then the Protestant faith. I heard it all as a kid.
And I heard the music from the different churches. If it was the Anglican church, the British church, it was refined in expression. No one is going to jump and shout in the Anglican church. They are very reserved. If you’re going to burp, keep it down. (laughs)
Whereas, If you’re in the African Gospel church, you’re supposed to express yourself freely. Whatever that hymn is, they bring their spiritual condition into the whole song. It’s an exercise of faith, and they are reaching out to their unseen Savior and Creator.
I got that gift from them as a kid. I remember sitting down to play at the piano. I literally didn’t know what the heck I was doing, but I said a little prayer, and by golly, the sky opened up. I can’t explain it why, because you just have to believe that there’s a Power beyond ourselves.
That’s what I inhabited Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and even Charlie Parker, although he had a harder time, with all of the drugs.
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“When Armstrong got on the bandstand, he made the audience know right away that this man was going to take his talent and make people be happy”
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THE CHURCH AND JAZZ HAVE A LONG HISTORY
John Coltrane is the perfect example. He came from total restitution when he found The C reator in his life. Some of it came through the Indian philosophy. He embraced it, and when he started playing, it was screaming on the bandstand through his horn in worship.
The best of all music has been from people of that great spiritual force. Some people can really work it.
A lot of people that I’ve known in music may talk on the phone for 1-2 hours about these things. I’ve done that with Sonny Rollins. He’s deeply into his own version of religion. Another colleague of mine, Ahmad Jamal, is a man of the Muslim faith. And you have Duke.
All of these people have tapped into that force.
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“I literally didn’t know what the heck I was doing, but I said a little prayer, and by golly, the sky opened up. I can’t explain it why, because you just have to believe that there’s a Power beyond ourselves”
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TELL ME SOME BOOKS YOU’VE READ THAT YOU WISH EVERYONE WOULD READ
Without trying to sound super religious or anything, Ever Without trying to sound super religious or anything, you have to read the great books of faith.
Beyond that, you hear great phrases out of Shakespeare, like “to be or not to be”.
As a kid I had no exemplary or erudite mind. I would read the Classic Comics; the cowboys were big stars for Monty! Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. (laughs
Every two weeks there would be another Marvel Comic, Wonder Woman or Superman. I developed a fine imagination and creativity. It’s great to imagine stuff.
I loved the movies. I would go to the cinema and sit there by myself, and just inhabit what was coming off of the screen. I’d see these musicians in these scenes of someone singing or playing the piano in these musical movie “shorts” on Vitaphone, like Duke Ellington’s Orchestra or Tommy Dorsey. I’d see songs. I’d be fascinated, and I wanted to be among that.
The dream came true. I came to America through various circumstances. I was 17 and kept going back to Jamaica, which by the way is a very powerful influence on the world in many ways.
WHAT MUSICIAN OR S INGER, LIVING OR DEAD, WOULD YOU PAY $1000 TO SEE PERFORM?
When I heard the radio at 14 years old, there was a particular piece of a song. Not only did I hear the song, I saw the song. I smelled the song. I felt the song. It was by my friend Ahmad Jamal playing “Poinciana”.
****When you hear him playing “Poinciana”, somehow there is a magical quality because the man playing with the other musicians is playing something miraculous. It’s not about technique; it’s not about dexterity, it’s not about anything that you can define. That’s one of those things for $1000, EVEN A MILLION DOLLARS
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“The best of all music has been from people of that great spiritual force”
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IT’S FUNNY THAT YOU MENTION THAT SONG, BECAUSE THAT SONG’S DRUM BEAT HAS THAT JAMAICAN CALYPSO FEEL TO IT.
That drum beat was an essence that combined where the deepest rhythms come from. That place is called Africa. That drummer, Vernel Fournier, was from New Orleans, which is a tributary of the African experience
That thing that came out of West Africa, those rhythms. When they were played in such a human way, they came from Africa, crossed the sea when slavery was coming to America. IT was a terrible, terrible thing that happened. Those people had that rhythm in their nature.
That is what came to Brazil, to Trinidad, the islands, Haiti, and it went up through the Caribbean to New Orleans. When it got to New Orleans, it incubated and marinated and came up with its own New Orleans thing. Hence, Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, and later on the rhythm guys like Little Richard, Fats Domino and all of these guys.
It went up the river to Chicago, and you have guys singing the blues, and the instrumentalists who weren’t really singing, but they started playing it on their trumpets. It all comes rhythmically from Africa.
Of course, rhythms that come from Poland, from Greece and other places are also very much part of the whole thing. But what was in the bucket is the African Experience. That is what has made our jazz so rich. There’s a great history.
Africa is a great continent with a great culture. Jamaica is a tributary of Africa. I’m a guy of mixed ethnic origin. But Africa is in my dna.
That music, when it is being played, I saw it, I felt it, and then I did it.
WHO IN WORLD HISTORY, LIVING OR DEAD, WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPEND AND EVENING WITH AND PICK HIS OR HER BRAIN?
All the people I meet are wise, and a Joy to be around.
But one person who was a character and had some dicey opinions about this and that would be Frank Sinatra.
I was around him and played for him, one time while he was two tables away. I was playing and in walks Sinatra with his friends. He liked me. You hear a man like that talk, and you know he’s from the neighborhood. He was challenged as an Italian-American kid who would have to fight his way coming home from school through the Irish neighborhood back in the 20s and 30s. He had a resolve to be a singer, and he had a pair, where he didn’t allow any disrespect. You can’t disrespect Sinatra; he’ll punch you out! (laughs)
I’m not ready to fight anybody, but respect people who will stand up and say, “I’m a good guy; you’ve got to respect me”.
My mother was a lot like that. The same day Sinatra died was the same day my mother died.
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(Frank Sinatra) was challenged as an Italian-American kid who would have to fight his way coming home from school through the Irish neighborhood back in the 20s and 30s. He had a resolve to be a singer, and he had a pair, where he didn’t allow any disrespect. You can’t disrespect Sinatra; he’ll punch you out! (laughs)
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WHAT GIVES YOU THE MOST JOY.
If I’m in Jamaica, looking at that sunset over the Caribbean Sea, eating a plate of those delicious foods, the mangos and the coconuts, that’s some of the best spots in my life. Jamaica is a land of paradise with a lot of blemishes. You’ve got crime on the rise, but that’s everywhere. You’ve got it in LA.
The place I grew up in was like a Shangri-La.
But I also want to go to New York where Sinatra was with all of the markets . It’s like Disneyworld
IN A TIME OF OUR COUNTRY WHERE IT IS POPULAR TO ASSAULT ITS FOUNDATIONS, IT’S REFRESHING TO HEAR FROM AN ARTIST WHO EMBRACES THIS RICH CULTURE. BECAUSE OF HIS DEEP FAITH, ALEXANDER SEES BEYOND JUST THE NOTES OF EACH SONG, BUT PLAYS WHAT HE FEELS FROM INFORMATION FROM ABOVE.WITH EYES AND EARS THAT TAKE IN AMERICAN ASPECTS THAT WE TAKE FOR GRANTED, MR. ALEXANDER IS ABLE TO CELEBRATE OUR ROOTS, BOTH MUSICAL AND SPIRITUAL IN WAYS THAT WE OVERLOOK. IT’S A PLEASURE TO HEAR FROM AN ARTIST FILLED WITH ENTHUSIASM, REMEMBERING THAT “ENTHUSIASM” LITERALLY MEANS “THE GOD WITHIN’.