Jazz pianist Monty Alexander immigrated to the United States when he was in his teens, but he still displays the distinctive accent of his Jamaican homeland.
And not only when he speaks. After playing so many types of jazz for so many years, 54-year-old Alexander says Jamaica is becoming more prominent in his playing."It's like having a musical accent," he told the Deseret News during a telephone interview from his New York home. "It's a part of my nature -- a part of my heritage. It's a very large part of me, and I play me."
But don't think Alexander's concert Monday in the Salt Lake Hilton's Seasons Ballroom will just be reggae and ska. While the style certainly informs his improvisations, the man whose heroes include Ahmad Jamal and Nat King Cole is very much steeped in the jazz canon, having paid his dues playing as sideman to such giants as Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry and Sonny Rollins.
You can also rid yourself of any idea that Alexander is a musical snob. His focus is reaching people -- helping even those uninformed about jazz enjoy the music. "I had to play in bars and saloons for a long time, where you had to rock the joint. I play a music that, when I'm in good shape, is for everyone."
It is an infectious, cheerful music. Having participated in a tribute concert to pianist Erroll Garner in Carnegie Hall in 1993, Alexander describes Garner's profound influence on him this way: "He just came with a lot of joyful celebration when he played. There was a smile in the music, and that had a great impact on me.
"I assimilate all this -- rhythm and blues, classical, Jamaican folk, jazz -- and it comes out in my own personal way, which I like to think is optimistic. I try to brighten up the place a little."
While certainly capable of straight-ahead jazz, Alexander's interests are wide. He sometimes leads a steel-drum group, and he listens to music that ranges from country-western to opera. His wife is a classically trained singer.
Alexander will bring a powerhouse trio to Salt Lake City, the one he recorded with in the 1970s as the Monty Alexander Trio. Their last album together was in 1976, with each of the three musicians then successfully going his own way. But Alexander, bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton still get together occasionally.
Monday will be one of those times.
"Those guys are all just great," Jazz at the Hilton producer Gordon Hanks said. "They could all do anything they want on their own, but here they are. . . . Last year, they were just magic."
The trio has played twice before at the Hilton, and, in fact, two of them will play there twice this season. Hamilton will come with his own trio in June, and Clayton appeared last November with the Milt Jackson Quartet.
Alexander, too, has his own trio that he plays with nowadays, but he says it's great to play with his old musical buddies.
"We just get together every so often and play for the folks, and I always go away delighted," he said.
The concert begins at 8 p.m. General admission tickets are $20 each. Call Holladay Pharmacy at 278-0411 for more information.