Piano jazz legend Dave Brubeck once said that Monty Alexander’s music has `that indefinable extra something, that cutting edge of vitality…a force to be reckoned with.´ Alexander’s vitality is in full force on the new live recording captured at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City in May 2004. Over the course of his four-decade career, Jamaica native Monty Alexander has carved a unique niche in the annals of jazz by grafting his cross-cultural sensibilities to a uniquely American art form. Along the way, his creative identity has been enriched by relationships with some of the greatest names in American popular music – Dizzy Gillespie, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Frank Sinatra, Les Paul, and many more. Alexander brings this rich history to bear on a new live album that culls some of the finest compositions from his own vast catalog and merges them with a few numbers from composers he has long admired. Live at the Iridium is a mix of jazz, blues, gospel, R&B, and much more. It’s a showcase of Alexander’s vast musical prowess as a consummate musician and entertainer. Alexander once again maximizes the versatile trio setting—where he’s always at his best—with the help of bassist Hassan Shakur, drummer Mark Taylor, and drummer-percussionist Robert Thomas, Jr.