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Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original
by Larry Reni Thomas
Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original Robin D.G. Kelley Free Press ISBN: 0684831902 2009 Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original is a meticulously documented, yet easy-to-read chronicle of the roller coaster life of pianist and composer Thelonious Monk. It took Robin Kelley, a professor of History and American Studies at The University of Southern California, 14 years to complete, and is a sometimes humourous, but often ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk: Pianists Riff on Monk
by George Kanzler
This month, over a dozen pianists will participate in a free concert, Thelonious Monk at 92, at the World Financial Center in lower Manhattan. Seven of them, and two other pianists with an abiding interest in Monk, answered questions about Monk's music and more specifically, his piano playing, as influence and inspiration. Jazz pianists may disagree about whether or not Thelonious Monk was the “high priest" of bebop who, in Geri Allen's words, “set the tone for ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk: Thelonious Himself
by Stuart Broomer
When producer Orrin Keepnews undertook this album for Riverside in 1957, Thelonious Monk had recorded relatively little as a solo pianist--nine tracks for French Vogue in 1954 and single tracks on Prestige and Riverside LPs. While the Vogue had emphasized Monk's originals and the single tracks were all old tunes, Thelonious Himself (Riverside/OJC, 1957) balanced his unique approach to standards with striking performances of originals. Whether fragmented, dissonant or oddly hesitant, Monk's probing (the usage is literal, heard in the ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk: Brilliant Corners & At Town Hall
by George Kanzler
Thelonious Monk Brilliant Corners (Keepnews Collection)Riverside-Concord2008 Thelonious Monk At Town Hall (Keepnews Collection)Riverside-Concord2008 It's time for some revisionist thinking on Monk's discography. Pride of place always seems to go to the earliest recordings when, undeniably, Monk debuted much of what was to be his small but indelible oeuvre. But were they really Monk's best records? Some tunes sounded ...
Continue ReadingCrepuscule with Thelonious
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Four false starts! I feel like the odd one out in a band led by Monk. The only one perhaps who cannot figure out or has not yet learnt one of Thelonious' new songs and we are about to start playing.New music by Thelonious! Oh! Wish that were true! It is November the twenty-second, nineteen sixty-three. There are to be no piano lessons for me today. The study is silent. Across the hallway, I can hear ...
Continue ReadingJohn Taylor's Jazz Caricatures: Thelonious Monk
by John Taylor
Thelonious Monk About John Taylor For me, art and music flow into a creative confluence. Encouraged by my family to draw and play the drums at an early age, I continue to find expression in these art forms.Motivation for a career in art and music developed in the 1960's as I observed theme park caricaturists at work and listened to recordings of the inimitable Buddy Rich. Gifted editorial caricaturist, David Levine, ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk: Live at the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival
by AAJ Italy Staff
Il 1964 fu un anno fortunato per la carriera e la visibilità internazionale di Thelonious Monk. Lo testimoniano un tour mondiale, alcuni ragguardevoli album incisi per la Columbia e la sua foto sulla copertina di Time Magazine. Ultima ma non meno importante, la partecipazione al prestigioso Monterey Jazz Festival, dopo quella dell’anno precedente. Rimasta fino ad oggi inedita, fu un’esibizione elettrizzante: una circumnavigazione attraverso una identità musicale complessa quanto affascinante, qui sublimata attraverso due distinte formule. La prima è quella ...
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