Monty Alexander (aka Bernard Montgomery Alexander) is an American pianist born in Kingston (Jamaica) on June the 6th 1944.

He discovers the piano on his own at the age of 4, take classical music lessons at 6 and then choose the jazz music at the age of 14.

Two years later, he directs a dance orchestra (« Monty and the cyclones ») and plays a lot in the clubs. Wynton Kelly recommend him. He listens to numerous other jazzmen , mostly pianists. He went to New York in 1962 and started to play there at the Jilly's club owned by Jilly Rizzo, where he met Ray Brown and became friends. His career really begin in Miami, New-York and in California where he records his first album in 1964-65.

He records with Milt Jackson in 1969, then, in 1974 with Ernest Ranglin, then in Europe the same year, with Ed Thigpen among other. He tours more and more in Europe and record there, mostly with his classic trio, except recently with a bigger band or in duo and around 1976 with the steel-drums player Othello Molineaux , caraibean connection. He has also played with few singers like Ernestine Anderson , Mary Stallings and other important leaders (Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson, Jimmy Griffin, Frank Morgan...).

In his successiv trios, he plays frequently with old musicians of Oscar Peterson : Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Mads Vinding , Ed Thigpen, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen among other. His playing has strong tropical influences, but he has been influenced by Wynton Kelly, Art Tatum, Gene Harris or Ahmad Jamal. His jazz has an happy Swing which explains the success he's meeting in the Summner Jazz Festivals.

See Also

• List of jazz pianists
• List of reggae musicians