Calypso Blues: The Songs of Nat King Cole Monty Alexander

• 1 Calypso Blues Part 1 03:13
• 2 Ramblin' Rose 04:55
• 3 To the Ends of the Earth 05:17
• 4 Again 04:56
• 5 Send For Me 03:57
• 6 Almost Like Being In Love 05:25
• 7 Hajji Baba 04:51
• 8 Too Young / Faith Can Move Mountains 03:26
• 9 Never Let Me Go 07:45
• 10 Can't See For Looking 03:40
• 11 Fascination 02:48
• 12 Sweet Georgia Brown 02:38
• 13 Calypso Blues Part 2 03:12
• Total Runtime 56:03

Info zu Calypso Blues: The Songs of Nat King Cole

Monty Alexander follows up his tribute to Tony Bennett with an homage to another classic jazz singer, Nat King Cole. Also recorded in New York City at St. Peter's Episcopal Church with the same trio of Chicagoans Lorin Cohen on bass and drummer George Fludas, the veteran pianist seems more in his element with this artist's repertoire, one that sharply defined his own sound and thinking about popular jazz. Though all of the tunes selected are not so closely linked to Cole's hit parade songbook, the way Alexander plays them with subtlety and depth does reflect what made Cole the king in the late '50s and early '60s. With the immaculate sound and performance by this fine trio--not to mention that they don't play Cole's songbook by rote or by the numbers--it's hard to fault the effort, heart, and soul behind a concept album that should delight many jazz listeners.

"Monty Alexander follows up his tribute to Tony Bennett with an homage to another classic jazz singer, Nat King Cole. Also recorded in New York City at St. Peter's Episcopal Church with the same trio of Chicagoans Lorin Cohen on bass and drummer George Fludas, the veteran pianist seems more in his element with this artist's repertoire that sharply defined his personal sound and thinking about populist jazz. Though all of the tunes selected are not so closely linked to Cole's hit parade songbook, the way Alexander plays them with subtlety and depth certainly reflects what made Cole the king in the late '50s and early '60s. Though a competent singer, Alexander does not attempt vocalizing them, and that's all right. What he does is lovingly construct these melodies and extrapolate on them later -- the best way of honoring these great American popular songs. Though "Straighten Up and Fly Right" is not credited as it is in Ira Gitler's liner notes, it's a distinct part of and extant in the theme of the bluesy, two-fisted, and breezy "Can't See for Looking." "Ramblin' Rose" is not at all typical in a bouncy, cowpoke swing, and "Send for Me" has Alexander staggering the chord phrases as if he's juggling them, with double stops and bouncy stride or boogie-woogie inferences. Most typically Nat is the straight-ahead take of "Almost Like Being in Love," the short and sweet "Fascination," and the steamrolling "Sweet Georgia Brown," a tune Cole loved to tear it up on, showcasing Alexander at his best. The most unusual selections go into ethnic overtones, as "Hajji Baba" is Arabic in nature with its mystical exoticism and the storybook, childlike version of "Never Let Me Go" refers to Alexander's Caribbean roots, mixing a bossa nova and reggae feel into a light, cool whip. The album is bookended with versions of the title track, where Alexander wields the melodica playfully, again in spicier Latin frames. With the immaculate sound and performance by this fine trio -- not to mention that they didn't exactly play Cole's songbook rote or by the numbers -- it's hard to fault the effort, heart, and soul behind this concept album that should delight many jazz listeners." (Michael G. Nastos, AMG)

Monty Alexander, piano, melodica
Lorin Cohen, bass
George Fludas, drums

Produced by David Chesky
Recorded by Nicholas Prout
Assitant Engineer Rick Eckerle
Edited and mastered by Nicholas Prout
Recorded at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in New York, NY.
Recorded with a Soundfield B-Format Microphone, with custom George Kaye Mic Preamps

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.”

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