in 1964, Alexander recorded his first album, Alexander the Great, for Pacific Jazz at the age of 20. The album was very energetic and upbeat with the climax tune being "Blues for Jilly". Alexander recorded with Milt Jackson in 1969, with Ernest Ranglin in 1974 and in Europe the same year with Ed Thigpen. He toured regularly in Europe and recorded there, mostly with his classic trio for MPS Records. He also toured around 1976 with the steelpan player Othello Molineaux. In the mid-1970s he formed a group consisting of John Clayton on bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums, creating a stir on the jazz-scene in Europe. Their most famous collaboration is Montreux Alexander, recorded during the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1976. A year later in 1977 Alexander recorded again with Milt Jackson on the LP called Soul Fusion. Jackson used Alexander's trio (with bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton, future big-band co-leaders) for the Pablo recorded LP which was later issued on CD through Original Jazz Classics. Much of the material is obscure (including Jackson's three originals), with Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" being the only jazz standard on the album. Alexander has also played with several singers such as Ernestine Anderson, Mary Stallings and other important leaders (Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson, Jimmy Griffin and Frank Morgan). In his successive trios, he has played frequently with musicians associated with Oscar Peterson: Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Mads Vinding, Ed Thigpen and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. Alexander formed a reggae band in the 1990s, featuring all Jamaican musicians. He has released several reggae albums, including Yard Movement (1996), Stir It Up (1999, a collection of Bob Marley songs), Monty Meets Sly & Robbie (2000), and Goin' Yard (2001). He collaborated again with Ranglin in 2004 on the album Rocksteady. Alexander married the American jazz guitarist Emily Remler in 1981. They divorced in 1985. Alexander is currently married to Italian jazz singer Caterina Zapponi. Awards and honors Musgrave Medal, Institute of Jamaica, 2000 Best Live Performance Album, Independent Music Awards, Harlem-Kingston Express, 2012 Grammy-nominated 2011 CD, Harlem-Kingston Express 2014 Soul Train Award-nominated followup, Harlem-Kingston Express, Vol. 2: The River Rolls On, both released on Motéma Records Discography As leader Compilations As sideman With Ernest Ranglin Ranglypso (MPS, 1974) Below the Bassline (Island, 1996) Rocksteady (Telarc, 2004) Order of Distinction (Milk River Music, 2009) With Milt Jackson That's the Way It Is