Here’s one for the audiophiles. This Kingston-born jazz pianist has already released a half-dozen live CDs done with every permutation of the jazz combo you can imagine; Live At The Iridium, however, may be his most inscrutable set yet, right from the opening notes, which meander about on the low end of the sonic scale and then explode into a torrent of blue sound from his Nat King Cole-inspired trio. Actually, it’s a quartet, if you count Robert Thomas, Jr.’s percussion, and while that format allows Alexander to insert his trademark island rhythms into the mix, he does so rarely-the medley “Happylypso / Funji Mama” is the only real fusion. Most of this nine-song set merely features Monty’s Oscar Petersonesque interpretive stylings, opening with a sprightly version of Cannonball Adderley’s “The Work Song” and working it out from there.

What Alexander’s able to do in a live trio format should finally lift him out of the shadow of Peterson forever, with any justice. Sly Stone’s “Runnin’ Away” is a perfect choice for a cover, a jazz-inflected pop song with shifting beats, but Monty dismantles the melody entirely, walking around it until he opens up a dazzling string of tones in the middle and makes the song run for real. The Tin Pan Alley standard “My Mother’s Eyes” spends a few minutes hoofing it inside its vaudevillian melody; you can almost see the silent film dialogue cards flashing up every few seconds. But then it disappears into a torrent of improv. It’s easier to hear the true genius of Monty’s chops in a setting like this; stripped down to the basics, the song reigns supreme. You can hear it even better in originals like “The River”: the liner notes tell us that this is a testament to the pianist’s newfound (or newly re-discovered) faith, but there aren’t any words in the song to confirm this. He doesn’t need any.