Opening with a stunning 1995 solo performance of Alexander's original ‘The Serpent’, there's immediately no doubt that this latest Montreux collection lives up to the standard of previous collections by other artists from the festival that appeared under the aegis of its late founder Claude Nobs. The corkscrewing upward runs between the theme statement phrases would be tough enough if they were single notes, but many of them are harmonised and I found myself wondering if Monty simply had more fingers than the average pianist. Revisiting the Adderley's ‘Work Song’, with creative bass from Hassan Shakur, his Harlem Kingston Express shows that 21 years later the sparks burned just as brightly in his playing. And talking of sparks, his programmatic ‘Hurricane Come and Gone’ evokes the story of natural disaster hitting the islands of the Caribbean, with Ron Blake tearing it up on tenor. Alexander can look back at the Jamaican tradition too, and I remember his band Ivory and Steel moving the audience dramatically on the old song ‘Linstead Market’ when I heard them in London in the 1990s, and his 1993 trio pulls off the same effect in the giant Stravinsky Auditorium at Montreux. By way of a heartrending version of Len Sharpe's ‘Crying’ we arrive at a pair of tributes to Bob Marley. ‘No Woman No Cry’ might have been written as a piano feature as Monty plays it with affection and perfect timing with the 2014 band. And via a couple of really dazzling trio sides, the set concludes with ‘A Nod To Bob’ from 1995 that perfectly demonstrates the meeting of Jamaican and American traditions, with Ernest Ranglin locked into Monty's left hand, in an 11-minute feast of sheer delight. If I can suggest an album of the year this early in the season – this is it.