Dayna Stephens: Monk'D

A jazz artist stepping into the studio to record some Thelonious Monk can approach the task from different angles. They can go all in and make a statement with solely Monk tunes. Pianist Ran Blake's Epistrophy (Soul Note, 1991) is one example of this approach. Or the artist can pick one of their favorite Monk classics (or two or three) and present them alongside a batch of originals and/or tunes by other artists to create a set list. Almost everybody with a substantial discography has paid homage to the legend in this way. Or, as is the case with bassist Dayna Stephens, the Monk songbook can be examined for some lesser-known jewels to be molded into an (almost) all-Monk show.

That disc is Monk'd, and as described, we find not so much his more familiar work—"'Round Midnight," "In Walked Bud," or "Monk's Dream," tunes that any Monk fan can hum in the shower. Instead, it is "Brake's Sake," "Humph," "Stuffy Turkey" and the like, with a couple of exceptions to the lesser-known rule, "Ugly Beauty and "Ruby My Dear."

Stephens employs a quartet to express Monk's vision. The saxophone and a rhythm section were Monk's favorite form of expression. The four musicians went into the studio and laid down this music in one day. They sound relaxed and loose and tightly-woven at the same time, like a regular road band coming in and recording a familiar set list. Stephen Riley's tenor sax has a rich, smoky sound that is smoother than that of Monk's later career go-to saxophonist, Charlie Rouse. Pianist Ethan Iverson uses his own keyboard voice, not trying to copycat the master. His solos are thoughtful and elegant, with off-center moments of idiosyncratic beauty, while drummer Eric McPherson—who records regularly with pianist Fred Hersch—keeps the ensemble cohesion in check with that loose/tight dynamic.

"Just You and Me, Smoking the Evidence" is a small suite that stirs up Monk's "Evidence," the 1929-penned "Just You, Just Me," written by Jesse Greer and Raymond Klages, and his own contrafact, "Smoking Gun," while the closer, the Iverson-penned title tune, closes the set, celebrating the spirt of Monk with a cool-bopping gem that wraps the evening up, sounding—as does the entire recording—like an music from one of Monk's 1950s Prestige albums, due, in part, to Stephen's gut string bass, Riley's vintage 400 tenor saxophone and the presence of a piano once played by Monk himself.

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