Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Thelonious Monk: Monk in Paris: Live at the Olympia

413

Thelonious Monk: Monk in Paris: Live at the Olympia

By

View read count
Thelonious Monk: Monk in Paris: Live at the Olympia
Monk In Paris: Live At the Olympia, recorded on March 7, 1965, is the second release for Thelonious Records. Formed by Monk's son, drummer T.S. Monk, Dr. Peter Grain and Hyena Records' Joel Dorn, the label made its debut with T.S. Monk's 2003 record, Higher Ground. The new label will be a vehicle for his own recordings as well as for private recordings by his father.

The first of these private gems finds Monk in Paris with his quartet of Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, Larry Gales on bass, and Ben Riley on drums. The output, as usual for this group, is superb. Though the band performs from the usual stock of Monk compositions, there is an undeniable excitement propelling these otherwise common tunes into new avenues of enthusiasm. Fueled in part by the extremely eager Parisian crowd, the men take advantage of the unrestrained live setting to fully display their individual skills, especially Charlie Rouse and Ben Riley. The real treats, though, are in the consistent exchange and dynamic interplay between the band members on tunes like "Rhythm- A-Ning," "Well You Needn't," "Bright Mississippi," and "Epistrophy."

Contrasting the quartet work are two delightful, solo pieces by Monk, "Body and Soul" and "April In Paris." Though each is brief, the pieces expose often-neglected aspects of Monk's playing, as he carries these classic melodies with careful, tender precision. Credit should also go to the remastering efforts of Gene Paul for making a nearly forty-year-old concert sound as fresh as it does here.

As if all this were not enough, the new label completely wins us over with a bonus DVD of the same Monk quartet live, a year later, in Oslo, Norway. Claiming that, "You have not heard Monk until you've seen Monk," the DVD has the quartet performing three songs, "Lulu's Back In Town," "Blue Monk," and "Round Midnight." Though the sound quality is not as good as on the CD, the picture is clear and, more importantly, it allows fans of all ages to witness this great quartet in action.

Visit Hyena on the web.

Track Listing

Disc 1 (CD) Rhythm-A-Ning; Body And Soul; I Mean You; April In Paris; Well, You Needn?t; Bright Mississippi; Epistrophy. Disc 2 (DVD) Lulu?s Back In Town; Blue Monk; ?Round Midnight.

Personnel

Thelonious Monk?Piano; Charlie Rouse?Tenor Saxophone; Larry Gales?Bass; Ben Riley? Drums.

Album information

Title: Monk In Paris: Live At The Olympia | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: Thelonious 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.