Love & Happiness

I once saw Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander play at a small, makeshift jazz festival. He used a large Labatt's Beer box for a bench and his piano was rickety and untuned. No matter--he sounded heavenly.

Thanks to that erudite house of immaculate taste, the Tofu Hut, we can hear some prime Monty.

This is a haunting cover of Al Green's "Love and Happiness" that he did with the great reggae guitarist Ernest Ranglin. I love all his electric-piano stabs of lovely, thick, sweet-and-sour chords.

It's not jazz, it's not soul, it's not reggae, and it's all of them and more.