Jazz Articles about Thelonious Monk

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Thelonious Monk: In Philadelphia 1960 with Steve Lacy

by Hrayr Attarian
April 18, 2007

The discovery of an obscure, previously unknown, recording from a master musician is often but not always a source of celebration. Unfortunately the new release by Rare Live Recordings of pianist Thelonious Monk's In Philadelphia 1960 with Steve Lacy is one of those occasions when it is not.

The disappointment starts even before you start listening to the CD. One is all excited to hear saxophonist Steve Lacy playing together with his mentor, as suggested by the title, only to ...

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Thelonious Monk: Thelonious Monk / Sonny Rollins

by Samuel Chell
February 21, 2007

Since a 50th Anniversary edition of this recording was released only several years ago, it's possible that this recent RVG edition was seen by the parent company, Concord, as an opportunity to capitalize on the success--critical and popular--of the Monk/Coltrane Carnegie Hall concert (Blue Note, 2005). Regardless, this early meeting of masters, while yielding music of undeniable historical significance and timeless interest, is no match for the later one.

To begin with, the title is deceptive. Rollins and ...

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Crepuscules With Monk

by Rob Mariani
November 10, 2006

Something was happening down on the lower East Side of Manhattan, down south of 14th Street way down in the rusty Bowery as the summer of 1957 was beginning. News of it spread out through the jazz community like the subterranean rumble of the subways underneath the clubs up on 52nd Street. Monk was back. After more than six years holed up in his Harlem apartment, his grand piano crammed into a corner of his kitchen, ...

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Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane: The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings

by Jim Santella
July 4, 2006

After last year's discovery and Blue Note release of a live recording featuring Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane, At Carnegie Hall, the Concord Music Group has released this two-CD set of Monk and Coltrane session recordings from earlier the same year. The collection includes false starts, alternate takes, previously unissued takes and final (reissued) copy. It's just like being there in the studio. The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings comes with a detailed essay by the original producer about the team's ...

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Thelonious Monk: Monk Meets the Beatles

by Ken Dryden
April 1, 2006

For years it was rumored that Thelonious Monk was asked to do an album of Beatles tunes, but now we finally have proof that it was actually made. In the summer of 1971, the pianist was approached by an English businessman to make a record of Beatles tunes as a surprise birthday gift for his wife. Monk was hesitant to record adaptations of rock music, but was finally persuaded by the considerable fee offered to him, with the stipulation that ...

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Thelonious Monk: The Classic Quartet

by Chris May
February 8, 2006

Intermittently available over the years on various labels and in various guises (most recently as Thelonious Monk Quartet in Japan and 1963: In Japan), this album catches Monk on the cusp between his unflaggingly inventive, mould-breaking Riverside years and his less consistently exploratory, later period with CBS.

Clocking in at just over 38 minutes, The Classic Quartet is a set the group recorded for Japanese TV during a short tour of the country in May, 1963. The sound, enhanced from ...

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Thelonious Monk: Thelonious Alone in San Francisco

by David Rickert
October 18, 2005

Thelonious Monk's solo recordings offer fascinating insight into the compositional and improvisational talents of one of music's true oddballs, and Alone In San Francisco is widely considered to be his best in this format.

Unencumbered by bass and drums, Monk is at his most introspective, taking advantage of the liquid tempo to patiently work though a series of originals and a few pop songs from his childhood, all of which, of course, are rendered in his inimitable style. ...