Monty Alexander

Concrete Jungle - The Music of Bob Marley

If anyone is entitled to reinterpret Bob Marley’s music, it’s fellow Kingstonian Monty Alexander. For this, his second outright tribute to the reggae king (the first being 1999’s Stir It Up), Alexander went down to the studio where he himself first recorded at the age of fifteen, the same studio that Marley bought near the end of his own life and rechristened Tuff Gong, and with the help of a batch of locals and N’Orleans trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, locked into a steady pulse on this set of Marley compositions.

It’s an attractive undertaking, smoothing out the rough edges of the composer’s rebel spirit while deconstructing the simple but irresistible melodies. Marsalis marches "Simmer Down" through the French Quarter and the Rod Dennis Mento Band takes it loosely to the streetcorner on "Three Little Birds," but most of this CD is firmly rooted in mellow, groove-happy Trenchtown rock.