Monty Alexander

Monty Alexander (born 1944 in Kingston) is a Jamaican pianist of dazzling swing, who brought reggae, gospel and boogie into jazz. Twenty-two concerts at Montreux since 1976: in 2022 the festival devoted an album to him in “The Montreux Years” series.

Monty Alexander: twenty-two times in Montreux

From Kingston to the world’s piano

Monty Alexander first played Montreux in 1976. At first compared to Oscar Peterson, he soon imposed his own voice: a swing of fire, through which Jamaica, reggae and the melodies of his childhood constantly surface. He would return twenty-two times, in every hall of the Montreux Jazz Festival.

“The Montreux Years”

In November 2022 the festival released “Monty Alexander: The Montreux Years”, chosen from his performances between 1993 and 2016, from the Miles Davis Hall to the Auditorium Stravinski. Three decades of a joy in playing that never waned.

At the Cully Jazz, from 1991 to 2024

The Cully Jazz Festival, in Lavaux, is also part of his Swiss story. As early as 1991 one of his concerts there was recorded and released as “Live at the Cully Select Jazz Festival”. He returned on 7 April 2024, for the 41st edition: in trio, he previewed “D-Day”, an album where wartime themes — “Brazil”, “I’ll Never Smile Again” — sit alongside his own compositions.