Jamaican born jazz great Dr. Monty Alexander to mark 50th year of performance at Blues Alley, D.C.
CaribPR Wire, NEW YORK, NY, Mar. 4, 2022: The year was 1972 when Jamaica’s international musician, Monty Alexander, made his debut to rave reviews at the then 7-year-old Blues Alley jazz club in Washington, D.C. Next week, he returns for his 50th annual performance to mark his five-decade sojourn at the now famous club and a D.C. institution.
The world-renowned, Grammy-nominated international musician, Dr. Alexander, CD, is kicking off his 50thanniversary performance at Blues Alley for the first time since the pandemic began, on Thursday, March 10th.
Performances will continue through to Sunday, March 13th with two shows per night at 1073 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20007.
Dr. Alexander, whose jazz album ‘Wareika Hill RastaMonk Vibrations,’ a tribute to his roots, reigned at number one on US Jazz and NACC radio for weeks after its release, is truly excited to perform live again, and especially to mark his 5-decade performance in the nation’s capital.
Show times are 8:00 p.m. and 10 p.m. between March 10th and 13th. Tickets are US$45 and US$50 and fans can reserve now by selecting the date and time here or at https://www.bluesalley.com/events and checking out.
In commenting on the upcoming performance, the Caribbean musical genius said: “It’s very hard to comprehend that 50 years later both Blues Alley and I are still rolling along, swinging and grooving, and bringing upliftment to the world.
ABOUT MONTY
Born Montgomery Bernard Alexander on D-Day in Kingston, Jamaica in 1944, the musical virtuoso has five decades of performances and over 70 CDs under his belt. Alexander began his musical career at age four by playing Christmas carols by ear. He is now most widely known as an upper echelon master of the swinging piano trio function as he has demonstrated with several top-shelf groups, including iconic units with bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton, and with the legendary bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis.
Alexander also performs frequently with Harlem-Kingston Express, a double trio in which he coalesces his love for hard-swinging jazz with musical flavors that reflect his Jamaican heritage, shifting between an acoustic trio and master Jamaican practitioners of electric bass and drums.
At 78, the jazz maestro continues to tour the world despite the pandemic, with various projects, delighting a global audience drawn to his vibrant personality and soulful messages as he has done on ‘Wareika Hill RastaMonk Vibrations.’
For more, visit him on YouTube or at montyalexander.com. You can also like him on Facebook at facebook.com/officialmontyalexander or keep up to date on his performances on Twitter at @montyHKE.
ABOUT BLUES ALLEY
Blues Alley, founded in 1965, is a jazz nightclub in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Musicians who have performed at Blues Alley include Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, John Abercrombie, Tony Bennett, Taj Mahal, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Sarah Vaughan, Grover Washington Jr., Mary Wilson, Nancy Wilson and dozens more.
In 1975, during afternoons when the club was closed, Earl Hines spent a week in Blues Alley making an hour-long film for British television, featuring Frank Hart, Blue’s Alley’s “Clean-Up Man.” See more at bluesalley.com/.
