Monty Alexander – Harlem-Kingston Express Vol. 2: The River Rolls On (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48kHz | Time – 01:05:41 minutes | 747 MB | Genre: Jazz, Fusion
Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | © Motéma Music LLC
Recorded at Avatar Studios and Dubway Studios in New York, NY.
Throughout a career spanning six decades, the New York-based artist Monty Alexander has garnered acclaim for bridging American jazz, popular song, and the music of his native Jamaica. For the new album, Alexander convened the band for its first studio recordings—primarily at New York City’s Avatar and Dubway. “Commander ‘Zander’s” reggae-fied one-love groove jazz party continues in high studio style on this rock-steady follow up to his 2011 Grammy®-nominated, chart topping Harlem-Kingston Express volume 1. The piano genius enters his 70th year with this infectiously grooving reggae/jazz fusion studio project, featuring great live bonus tracks.
They perform a mix of Alexander originals (which are themselves steeped in both Caribbean music and American jazz and R&B) and Alexander interpretations of classics, from the soul hits “People Make the World Go Round” and “What’s Going On” (here with the alias “Wa’a Gwan”) to Jimmy Cliff’s reggae landmark “The Harder They Come.”
Harlem-Kingston Express Vol. 2: The River Rolls On at once encapsulates the current moment in Alexander’s singular career and finds him returning to its earlier stages: both his teenage years, when he played on sessions helmed by pioneering reggae producers Clement “Coxsone” Dodd, Duke Reid and Chris Blackwell, and his first decades in the U.S., when he had the occasion to record and perform with icons such as Frank Sinatra, Milt Jackson and Ray Brown, among countless others.
Tracklist:
1 Hurricane Come and Gone / Moonlight City 6:04
2 People Make the World Go Round 4:15
3 Concierto de Aranjuez 6:28
4 Sleaky 4:12
5 Trust 3:45
6 The Harder They Come 5:46
7 The River Rolls On (feat. Caterina Zapponi) 4:33
8 What’s Going On (Wa’a Gwan) 5:05
9 Love Notes (feat. George Benson, Ramsey Lewis & Joe Sample) 4:48
10 Skamento 4:41
11 Linstead Market (Live Bonus) 6:37
12 Redemption Song (Live Bonus) (feat. Wendel Ferraro) 4:56
13 Regulator (Reggae-later) 4:25
Personnel:
Monty Alexander – piano
Hassan Shakur – acoustic bass
Karl Wright, Obed Calvaire – drums
Andy Bassford, Yotam Silberstein, George Benson – guitars
Earl Appleton, Joe Sample – keyboard
Joshua Thomas – electric bass
Courtney Panton – percussion
Caterina Zapponi – vocals
Download:
MntyAlexanderHarlemKingstnExpressVl.2TheRiverRllsn20144824.rar