A self-proclaimed citizen of the world, Monty Alexander has played with legends like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Miles Davis. But he has never forgotten the unheralded Jamaican musicians who inspired him in the 1940s and 1950s.

The celebrated jazz pianist salutes those heroes on ‘A Living History: Jamaica to Jazz’, scheduled for January 24-25 at Lincoln Center in New York City.

It is dedicated to the sounds he heard before the emergence of ska and rocksteady in the early and mid-1960s.

“That era was very important to me in my development in music, but truthfully it was before that. In the late 40s I started to meet the wonderful local musicians, starting with The Salvation Army Band, who I would join in with at Christmastime when I had an accordion,” Alexander, 80, recalled. “That whole period, every time I went to the piano, or when I had a trumpet, it’s part of who I am today; it’s one big pile of influences.”

Alexander was born in a middle-class family in Kingston. By the time he entered Jamaica College he was fascinated by the music of band leader Baba Motta, pianist Whylie Lopez, organist Aubrey Adams, and saxophonist Roland Alphonso.

At 18 years old he migrated to the United States and was spotted shortly after by Sinatra playing at a Miami club. Impressed, Sinatra recommended him to his friend Jilly Rizzo, owner of Jilly’s, a popular jazz club in Manhattan.

During his internship at Jilly’s, Alexander met some of the biggest names in jazz who helped launch a fabled career that has yielded over 70 albums. On some of them, he has worked with Sly and Robbie and guitarist Ernie Ranglin.

Alexander also revisited his Jamaican roots with Harlem-Kingston Express, a band that plays traditional jazz with Jamaican rhythms. Guitarist Wayne Armond, drummer Desi Jones, and saxophonist Dean Fraser were members of that line-up.

Monty Alexander was honoured with the Order of Jamaica, Jamaica’s fifth-highest honour, in 2022.