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Thelonious 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 ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk: Live at the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival
by Greg Camphire
As part of the series of recordings launching the Monterey Jazz Festival's new record label, this previously unreleased 1964 set by Thelonious Monk offers a glimpse of the maestro with an augmented version of his working quartet of the time, during which the pianist was finally receiving much-deserved mainstream attention from the public. Monk can be heard clearly enjoying his time in the spotlight after more than two decades of perfecting his singular approach; he plays some of his better-known ...
Continue ReadingSam Newsome & Plays Monk: Defenders Of The Thelonious Flame
by Mark Corroto
Forget the comic book heroes Batman, Spiderman and the Fantastic Four. I've been a member of an international force for good called “the guardians of the Thelonious Monk legacy. Our mission is to protect the music Monk wrote nearly fifty years ago from those up to hijinks. I've terminated would-be hackers from botching the sacred “Round Midnight and focused my super powers on the bar band playing one more blues drenched “Straight No Chaser. This thankless job, performed with chest ...
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