Here Comes the Sun (Remastered) Monty Alexander

• 1 Montevideo 04:22
• 2 Where Is Love 05:04
• 3 Here Comes the Sun 04:55
• 4 Love Walked In 06:19
• 5 Brown Skin Girl 04:37
• 6 This Dream of Mine 04:05
• 7 So What 10:26
• Total Runtime 39:48

Info for Here Comes the Sun (Remastered)

This 1971 recording signals the beginning of Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander’s fruitful relationship with MPS, lasting over a decade and encompassing some dozen albums. Originally touted as heir to Oscar Peterson’s crown, Alexander is famous for his virtuoso melding of jazz, the sounds of the Caribbean and blues. The classic Dave Brubeck Quartet’s bassist Eugene Wright, calypso percussionist Montego Joe, and ace drummer Duffy Jackson round out the quartet. Montevideo jumps off with percussive Latin two-beat verve and a witty piano filled with quotes. The ballad Where is Love is a searching romantic serenade, and Monty transforms the Beatle’s Here Comes The Sun into blues-laced Latinesque with a taste of boogie. Monty takes the standard Love Walked In at a brisk pace as he demonstrates his considerable straight-ahead jazz chops, bop quotes and all. Check out the tasty walking bass and drum solos. The luscious calypso Brown Skin Girl is followed by Monty’s tender, wistful solo rendition of his The Dream Is Mine. The group stretches out on Miles Davis’ iconic So What, grounding the tune with a driving Latin-rock beat. They say variety is the spice of life and Monty Alexander and co. have seasoned this album to perfection.

Monty Alexander, piano
Eugene Wright, bass
Duffy Jackson, drums
Montego Joe, congas

Recorded June 6 1971 in New York City
Engineered by Paul Goodman
Produced by Don Schlitten

Digitally remastered

Monty Alexander
Jazz pianist Monty Alexander makes a point of telling his audiences that he was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1944, and that he immigrated to the United States in 1961. Alexander has never neglected his Carribean roots and has created many fruitful mashups of jazz with calypso, reggae, mento, and other island music. His two albums of the music of Bob Marley, Stir It Up (1999) and Concrete Jungle (2006) are particular triumphs, as was his 2011 Harlem – Kingston Express Live! which qualified him as virtually the only jazz pianist to be nominated for a Grammy for Best Reggae album.

At 74, he tours the world relentlessly with various projects, delighting a global audience drawn to his vibrant personality and soulful message. His spirited conception, 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, as Alexander says, “to build up the heat and kick up a storm.” In the course of any given performance, Alexander applies those aesthetics to 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—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—gives the hardcore-jazz-obsessed much to dig into while also communicating the message to the squarest “civilian.”

This album contains no booklet.