Carlos Henriquez: Monk Con Clave

Carlos Henriquez has long understood that rhythm tells stories long before words arrive. On Monk Con Clave, he takes Thelonious Monk's angular brilliance and brings it back to the streets, dance halls, and other crowded spaces across New York's Afro-Caribbean neighbourhoods. The result is not merely a tribute album but a living dialogue between Monk's genius and Henriquez's Nuyorican identity.

Leading his self-named big band, Henriquez has assembled a remarkable multigenerational ensemble featuring musicians from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, along with the propulsive conguero Pedrito Martinez, the sparkling trumpet of Michael Rodriguez, pianists Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Osmany Paredes, and Robert Rodriguez, vocalist Anthony Almonte, and flautist Jeremy Bosch. Yet despite the star power, the performance succeeds because Henriquez never loses sight of the groove beneath the architecture.

"'Round Midnight" opens not at midnight but in atmosphere. The familiar melody floats over layered percussion and brass voicings, with Rubalcaba feeding off the rhythmic texture. Trumpeter Michael Rodriguez offers a brief solo in a warm, centred tone. Henriquez's arrangement avoids sentimentality, letting the rhythm coalesce beneath the harmony.

"I Mean You" bolts awake with swagger. Henriquez opens with a big-toned bass foundation, and the brass section punches hard in the follow-up, turning Monk's quirky accents into dance impulses. Paredes jumps into the arrangement, which swings fiercely without sanding off Monk's jagged edges.

Henriquez's own compositions, "El Son de Teo" and "San Juan Hill," follow and are among the album's emotional centres. The former is rooted in Afro-Cuban traditions, with the rhythm section honouring that musical ancestry. Bosch brings a folkloric vocal spirit to the performance, and his singing becomes part of the rhythmic fabric, warm and immediate. Rubalcaba is masterful throughout, threading sharp harmonic ideas and flowing montuno figures into the arrangement. The latter number carries historical weight, as it was named for the Manhattan neighbourhood erased by urban renewal. This memory music, proud, bittersweet and defiant, is captured vocally, both separately and together, by Martinez, Almonte and Bosch, with the upper-register trumpet work delivered by Nathaniel Williford.

"Raise Four" ignites the band's adventurous side, full of rhythmic displacement and ensemble interplay. Trumpeter Jesus Ricardo cuts through with fire and precision over Martinez's slap, open tone, and muted stroke. Pianist Rodriguez and alto saxophonist Ted Nash make their presence felt throughout the ensemble. "Green Chimney" arrives with buoyant, almost playful energy, capitalizing on Henriquez's big, bold tone throughout the number. As the band transforms Monk's quirky composition into a number that maintains a relaxed yet insistent groove, soloists Chris Lewis on tenor saxophone, Marshall Gilkes on trombone, and pianist Robert Rodriguez each add their expressive voices to the arrangement.

The closing track pairs Henriquez's "Plena Azul" with Monk's "Blue Monk," beautifully tying the project together. Almonte and Bosch infuse the performance with a communal spirit as their voices weave naturally through the plena rhythms and blues-infused ensemble lines. Over this celebratory pulse, Dion Tucker and trumpeter Kali Rodriguez-Peña add intensity and spontaneity, deepening the sense of cultural continuity.

This album does not merely reinterpret Monk but reveals that he was closer to the clave than many listeners had thought.