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Thelonious Monk: Monk Meets the Beatles
by Ken Dryden
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 ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk: The Classic Quartet
by Chris May
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 ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk: Thelonious Alone in San Francisco
by David Rickert
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. ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane: At Carnegie Hall
by Jim Santella
We need more surprises like this one. Discovered by accident during a routine transfer of tapes to digital format, the Library of Congress found a gem. Monk and Coltrane gave their November 29, 1957 Carnegie Hall audience a precious performance. The transfer to digital sound files from a 7 ½-inch tape reel has left their music remarkably fresh, presenting Monk's special quartet in true form. The quartet interprets his music appropriately, and their concert is charged with excitement from start ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane: At Carnegie Hall
by David Rickert
Thelonious Monk's quartet with John Coltrane was one of the greatest groups in the history of jazz, but most of us have only been able to take other people's word for it. The group's reputation rests mostly on its live performances at the Five Spot, of which only an amateur recording of poor quality exists, and the musicians only entered the studio once to record a handful of tracks. Thus those who listen avidly to both Monk and Trane but ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane: At Carnegie Hall
by Norman Weinstein
Let's be clear from the start: this discovery of a new Monk/Coltrane live concert completely puts to shame the over-hyped Five Spot CD from years ago. Not only is the sound as sterling and clear as the sound on the Five Spot date was excretory, but the performances of the stars are light years beyond that muddy recording.There is a sense that both Monk and Coltrane knew they were going to make history in 1957 at Carnegie Hall, ...
Continue ReadingThelonious Monk: Brilliant Corners & Monk 'Round the World
by Riel Lazarus
The path by which legendary pianist and composer Thelonious Monk rose to infamy was a long and trying one. So unique and progressive were Monk's gifts that it took the jazz community what now seems like an eternity to catch on to his brilliance. But all that's history, leaving us now to ruminate upon each of Monk's creative offerings as single elements contributing to the whole from one of the music's most important and enigmatic figures.
Thelonious Monk ...
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