MONTY ALEXANDER, with John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton, in concert; Salt Lake Hilton; Monday evening, March 29; one performance only.
Monty Alexander is a musician who can be enjoyed on several different levels.If you attended Alexander's Hilton Hotel concert Monday seeking simple entertainment, you got it. The jazz pianist and his two sidemen, bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton, know how to work an audience -- building it up, bringing it down, timing the shout choruses to coincide with the audience's emotional peak.
The concert ran long -- well over two and a half hours -- but most people stayed right to the end. That's a testament to the performers, as the Hilton crowd has time and again shown its willingness to go home and get its beauty sleep unless it is fully engaged.
Like variety? The trio provided that, too, playing everything from Alexander originals ("You Can See") to tweaked standards ("Think Twice," based on "Love for Sale") to show tunes and classical pieces ("Concerto de Arranjuez") to the reggae of Alexander's Jamaican homeland (Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry").
The musicians made the most of their instruments. Clayton frequently displayed his justly celebrated ability to bow (rather than pluck) his upright acoustic bass, Alexander would occasionally run his fingers over the strings of his Steinway, and Hamilton coaxed an astonishing range of sound and feel from his very spare drum set.
But varied selections and polished showmanship weren't the only things going down Monday. Alexander and his sidemen showed a tightness of combination and profundity of musical understanding and performance that would satisfy even the snootiest jazz cognoscente.
The trio was almost always perfectly in sync, and this with a set of songs that demanded precision. To introduce "Think Twice," for example, Alexander played a layered, complex piano solo. Clayton and Hamilton subsequently broke into an intricate, structured, jerky rhythm and bass line and then a straight swing foundation underlying Alexander's explorations.
All three musicians displayed a deft touch. Clayton's solos were melodic, Hamilton was a tasteful, understated, exciting presence, and Alexander himself played with considerable technical skill, blending rehearsed and improvised bits seamlessly. He used his left hand to full advantage, providing his own secondary accompaniment which complemented, rather than duplicated, what Clayton and Hamilton were doing.
It's easy to see why these musicians are Salt Lake favorites.