Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane: At Carnegie Hall

334

Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane: At Carnegie Hall

By

View read count
Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane: At Carnegie Hall
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 to finish. It's a piece of history that's been rescued from long-term storage just in time. Even in a climate-controlled vault, magnetic tapes don't last forever.

Monk and Coltrane jam with excited emotions. Streams of notes pour from both instruments as the two giants of jazz turn it loose. With bass and drums providing a firm foundation for their adventures, the two artists commingle their instrumental voices with passion. It was a match made in heaven.

Naturally, both Monk and Coltrane provide numerous solo excursions. The saxophonist's muscular interpretations swing with authority as his musical partners conform cohesively. Monk, of course, twinkles the keyboard in a jaunty manner that swings memorably. It doesn't get any better than this.

Track Listing

Monk's Mood; Evidence; Crepuscule With Nellie; Nutty; Epistrophy; Bye-Ya; Sweet & Lovely; Blue Monk; Epistrophy (incomplete).

Personnel

Thelonious Monk: piano; John Coltrane: tenor saxophone; Ahmed Abdul-Malik: bass; Shadow Wilson: drums.

Album information

Title: At Carnegie Hall | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: Blue Note Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.