Over five decades of performances and more than 70 CDs later, award-winning Jamaican-born jazz maestro, Monty Alexander, is being bestowed with a honorary doctorate degree from the University of West Indies, (UWI).

Alexander, born Montgomery Bernard Alexander on D-Day in Kingston, Jamaica, will be presented with an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the UWI Mona Campus this November.

The degree was approved by the University’s Council and will be conferred at the 2018 graduation ceremonies and presented by Chancellor Robert Bermudez.

The man, who singer extraordinaire, Tony Bennett, has declared put on one of the “best jazz shows” he has ever seen, will be one of four stellar Caribbean-born musicians who will be presented with honorary doctorates by UWI.  They include Bajan star Rihanna;

fellow Jamaican artist Grace Jones, and Winston A. Bailey, aka the Mighty Shadow, from Trinidad and Tobago.

In commenting on the incredible recognition and prestigious honor, Alexander said humbly: “I have a sense of great privilege and gratitude.”

UWI

Established in 1948, UWI is the largest and longest standing higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean. In its more than 60 years of existence, UWI has evolved from a fledgling college in the Caribbean island of Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 45,000 students, approximately 9,000 graduates annually and more than 120,000 alumni. The impressive network of UWI alumni includes one Nobel Laureate, dozens of Rhodes Scholars and more than 18 current and former Caribbean prime ministers and heads of state.