Monty Puthon

Musically, in terms of being a James Bond score, Dr. No is the weakest of the soundtrack albums in the film series, with only Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme" marking out familiar territory. But as a piece of music and a pop culture artifact, Dr. No may be the most interesting album in the whole output of the James Bond series. A good portion of the most memorable music in the film, including "Kingston Calypso" (the "Three Blind Mice" theme from the opening of the film) and "Jump Up," constituted mainstream American (and European) audiences' introduction to the sounds of Byron Lee & the Dragonaires (who also appeared in the movie, performing "Jump Up"), who became one of the top Jamaican music acts in the world just a couple of years later; sharp-eyed viewers can catch a young white man dancing in that same scene, incidentally, who is none other than Chris Blackwell, the future founder of Island Records.

Over his long recording and performing career, Monty Alexander has displayed an ability to excel with any jazz or related genre. From swing to bop and hard bop, from reggae to mainstream jazz, you name it and Alexander has done it and done it well. On his latest and fourth album for the Telarc label, the veteran pianist takes time to show his appreciation and gratitude to his adopted home, America, through a series of songs in honor of people and images that shaped his attitude toward this country, whether it be cowboy movies he used to see as a youngster in Jamaica or the impression made upon him by a variety of American performers, including Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, and others of like diversity…

Monty Adkins is experimental sound artist based in remote countryside of the north of England. His work is deeply influenced by the visual arts and psychogeography resulting in collaborations with a number of painters and digital artists. Inhabiting a post-acousmatic sensibility, Monty’s work draws together elements from ambient, acousmatic and microsound music producing a soundworld characterised by slow shifting organic textures derived from processed instrumental sounds. His work can be found on various labels including Audiobulb, Cronica, Signature, and empreintes DIGITALes. He presents on Eilean Rec. his sixth solo albums since 2009.

Soundtrack album for arguably the Python's best film (or at least their most controversial, talky, and profound). The group's take on the biblical epic focuses on Brian (Graham Chapman), mistaken for the messiah by a group of easily impressed locals. All the best bits from the movie are here, including the "Sermon on the Mount" (as misheard by "Mr. Big Nose"); the People's Liberation Front of Judea (or is it the Judean People's Liberation Front?); Brian's impromptu preaching ("He's making it up as he goes along!"), and the concluding song, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," sung by the cast as they hang crucified. The album offers little apart from the clips from the film, except for some studio banter between a producer (Eric Idle) and a useless announcer (Graham Chapman).

The Jazz Club series is an attractive addition to the Verve catalogue. With it's modern design and popular choice of repertoire, the Jazz Club is not only opened for Jazz fans, but for everyone that loves good music.
Jamaican-born pianist Monty Alexander is a sophisticated, prolific performer with an urbane, swinging style informed by the bop tradition, as well as the reggae and Caribbean folk he grew up with. Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1944, Alexander first started playing piano around age four and took classical lessons from age six. By his teens, however, he had discovered jazz and was already performing in nightclubs. Although his early career found him covering pop and rock hits of the day, it was his love of jazz-oriented artists like Oscar Peterson, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole that brought him the most inspiration.