The Monty Alexander Trio - Montreux Alexander: LIVE! at the Montreux Festival

Publisher: HORCH HOUSE, HH05.00.63, SPECIAL PRICE Analgue Audio Association Edition

Playing time: 46 min

Specifications: half track ¼", stereo, RMG LPR90, CCIR, 320 nWb/m, 38 cm/s

Reel(s):               1 standard metal reel, with sticker

Packaging:        1 deluxe cardboard box

Inserts:               1 insert folder with 2 insert sheets and 4 photo prints

Homepage: https://www.horchhouse.com/monty-alexander

Translation of the German review:

You missed this legendary concert of Monty Alexander and his trio on June 10, 1976, in Montreux, as probably all of us did? No problem! All you need is a tape machine to catch up on this show in very close proximity to the original. Advantage over the concert: you can rewind as many times as you like and press the start button again.

The AAA edition of the Labes HORCH HOUSE with 38 cm/s and the level of 320 nWb/m on long-play tape, which is in no way inferior to a studio master tape in tonal performance, sounds excellent. It unfolds the space for the acoustic action in the best possible way to show the listener why this celebrated live recording belongs in the premium league of great classics of piano trio jazz.

Monty Alexander, John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton make use of a wide variety of jazz styles, also do well with pop leanings and lard the songs with hints of Latin jazz. Their musical range is impressive. The fact that this trio has no fear of contact in the stylistic area is proven above all by the last piece "Battle Hymn Of The Republic", in which the audience - at the concert as well as at home - is finally taken away emotionally.

Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander was born in Kingston in 1944 and has been playing the piano since the age of four. He took lessons from 1950 to 1959 and played in calypso and rhythm & blues bands as a teenager. Classical training followed before he turned to jazz. In 1962 Alexander moved to Miami and later to New York, where he played with jazz greats such as Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson and Milt Jackson, among others. In 1971 he came into contact with the MPS label, where, among other albums, the recording "Live At The Montreux Festival" was made.

John Clayton was born in Los Angeles (USA) in 1952 and works as a jazz double bassist, arranger and big band leader. He took lessons from the age of 16, including with Ray Brown. Shortly after, he became famous playing with Henry Mancini, the Monty Alexander Trio and the Count Basie Orchestra; he also played with the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In the U.S., he formed jazz bands, worked as an artistic director, and taught jazz. Clayton is/was also a composer and arranger for such greats as Diana Krall, Whitney Houston, Michael Bublé, Quincy Jones, Natalie Cole and the WDR Big Band.

Jeff Hamilton was born in Richmond (USA) in 1953 and studied jazz percussion at Indiana University. He can also boast an extensive rank-and-file list: Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, Milt Jackson, John Clayton, Oscar Peterson, Diana Krall, Scott Hamilton, Atsuko Hashimoto and Paul Kuhn. He played in the band The L. A. Four with Ray Brown, Laurindo Almeida and Bud Shank.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)