A NICE MIX; JAZZ AND JAMAICA!

Monty Alexander is an extraordinary pianist who for years stayed in the shadow of the great Oscar Peterson. Born in 1944 in Jamaica, Alexander began showing a talent for the piano at four. By six, he was taking lessons and at fifteen he was playing gigs with some of Jamaica's greatest musicians.

After he moved over the States at 17, Monty quickly became a part of the New York jazz scene. He worked with some of the greatest musicians of the 50's and 60's including Milt
Jackson, Ray Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry. He accompanied Frank Sinatra and many others but critics kept saying his voice was more the voice of Peterson. Through the years, Alexander has developed his own playing style and has produced some incredible albums for Pablo and Concord. "Goin' Yard" is his first CD for the Telarc Jazz label and it is a knockout.

Monty has gone back to his roots on this album. His tremendous jazz improvisational skills are joined by six of the best Jamaican musicians and the resulting music is outstanding. Joining Monty are: Wayne Armond, guitar, vocal; Dwight Dawes, keyboards; Robert Browne, guitar; Desmond Jones, drums; Glen Browne, bass; and, Robert Thomas, Jr. on hand drums. Unless I mention otherwise, each song was written by Axexander.

The CD starts off with a bang. "The Serpent" was written by Alexander 12 years ago and features Monty's explosive, superfast technique and the hand drumming of Thomas. As the
liner notes say, Monty alternates between"frenzied spitfire poundings and delicate dancing on the ivories." Marvelous is the only way to describe the song.

"Grub" is a tribute to bass player Carlton "Grub" Messam who played with Monty in years past but was murdered. It is a rhythmic explosion which highlights the complexities of the Jamaican percussive sounds. Alexander again pounds with fire but scales back into beautiful accompaniment. Only in the second song on the CD, we get the clear picture that the Jamaican cats can play bigtime and Monty lets them loose. The performance was actually recorded at a concert in Pittsburg.

Augustus Pabb wrote "King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown" and this is smooth Jamaican sound from the first. Bass and drums are pure island while Alexander brings his jazz
interpretation into the music in a complementary way. This is Carribbean soul music and it's fascinating to listen to the styles mesh so beautifully together. Beautiful dance music.

Bob Marley's "Could You Be Loved" is a tour de force of the best of reggae and jazz. There's really no adequate way to describe this song with words alone. How do you verbally
describe a Renoir painting? Starting at a medium pace, the song builds to a wild climax that includes a turned on Pittsburg audience. Monty and Wayne Armond add their vocals to the frenetic pace of the song.

The beautiful, contemplative "Trust" is next. Alexander's quiet solo starts the song with the gentleness that obviously refers to the concept of trust. It could be the trust of a child and mother or between two lovers. Monty is solo until almost 3 minutes into the song and then
only a quiet drum and guitar join in very deliberately. All hands join in deep into the song, but Monty's solo finishes this beauty.

"Sight Up" is next. The term means "stay positive" in Jamaica and Monty wrote the number to encourage the economically depressed island. Once again, the fusion of bluesy, jazz piano with pure Jamaican rhythm brings about the celebration that Monty intends. The song just makes you grin and move. It would be hard to be sad listening to the happy chords of Monty's piano here.

"Hurricane" is the musical depiction of the complete storm experience starting with the pre-storm calm, announcing the buildup of ominous clouds, screaming the dangerous winds and
increasing downpours and ultimately returning to tranquility. Browne's guitar solo is Hendrix-like and Jones has a powerful drum solo. Monty brings the peaceful feeling back in very quietly with incredible touch that reminds me of a harp.

"Hope" like "Trust" before it, begins with a haunting, contemplative piano solo that has elements of classical music. Monty solos quietly for two minutes and then is joined by Thomas on the hand drum. The beauty of the Jamaican rhythm is that it is almost melodic. As other instruments softly join into song, the song wordlessly represents its title: there is hope. We can overcome even the darkest hours. Simply beautiful.

Want cold chills? Listen to "Exodus" which is a fusion of the famous movie film theme with Bob Marley's song of the same name. Marley was writing of the "movement of the Jah
people to the promised land" and the two songs are remarkably similar. I don't mean that Marley plagiarized the movie theme but he used many of the same notes. Monty is masterful here throwing in an Eleanor Rigby quote. The pace of the song is frenetic but is brought back peacefully to the Jewish Exodus experience with a combination of Monty's play and Armond's island guitar sound. The whole song is remarkable and worth the price of the album by itself.

"Skankin' Lewis" is a tribute to the heavyweight boxer Lennox Lewis who enters the boxing ring to Jamaican music. It's the funkiest song on the CD with Monty playing pure blues while the Jamaican rhythm section rocks full blast behind him. It's a joyful song that highlights how different styles of music can join together successfully. Monty finishes the number with a little stride piano.

The last song on the album is the classic, traditional "Day-O" made famous by Harry Belafonte over 50 years ago. Drums and guitar start the fun and then Monty plays the vocal
part done so well by Mr. B. I bet Harry would enjoy this performance.

I have learned in the CD notes that this is not the first Telarc Jazz recording by Monty. If the other two are half as great as this one, they're worth buying. This is a great addition to any jazz collection.