Virtually everyone who plays with pianist Monty Alexander loves the challenge of keeping up with his mischievous music-making and sudden changes in direction. Then there are those quotes—splashes of everything from bugle calls and nursery rhymes to Duke Ellington and Meet the Flintstones—that challenge the listeners' repertoire, as well as adding delight and surprise to each track. Who else, for instance, would begin Sweet Georgia Brown with a tongue-in-cheek reference to the opera Carmen—and make it work?Uplift is a collection of 10 tunes, three of them Alexander's own, that producer John Lee calls a masterpiece. That's a tough call to make, given Alexander's 62 fine recordings as leader over his five-decade career; in fact, Montreux Alexander (MPS, 1976) is such a desert island disc for many jazz lovers that it was reissued in a 30th anniversary edition. Certainly there are few living pianists who can match his imaginative and joyous approach, and his harmonic risk-taking; unlike many players who shift things around just for the sake of making a change, Alexander's innovations are always respectful of the melody. Not many are able to bring such new life to well-worn standards; in his blues-infused, infectious swing, he recalls the late master Gene Harris.