Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) was one of jazz's greatest and most enigmatic figures. As a composer, pianist, and bandleader, Monk both extended the piano tradition known as Harlem stride and was at the center of modern jazz's creation during the 1940s, setting the stage for the experimentalism of the 1960s and '70s. This pathbreaking study combines cultural theory, biography, and musical analysis to shed new light on Monk's music and on the jazz canon itself. Gabriel Solis shows how the work of this stubbornly nonconformist composer emerged from the jazz world's fringes to find a central place in its canon. Solis reaches well beyond the usual life-and-times biography to address larger issues in the unfolding of jazz as an art--ethnography and the role of memory in history's construction. He considers how Monk's stature has grown, from the narrowly focused wing of the avant-garde in the 1960s and '70s to the present, where he is claimed as an influence by musicians of all kinds. He looks at the ways musical lineages are created in the jazz world and, in the process, addresses the question of how musicians use performance itself to maintain, interpret, and debate the history of the musical tradition we call jazz.
“Gabriel Solis's study of Thelonious Monk's legacy energizes an important development in jazz studies. Respectful of Monk and his musical heirs, Solis nevertheless offers insights on Monk myth-building by opposing jazz camps in which both moldy figs and avant- gardists claim him as their own. Moving beyond exploding these turf battles, Solis comes to deep realizations about jazz as a practice. ...a transformative work." --Steven F. Pond, author of Head Hunters: The Making of Jazz's First Platinum Album (winner of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music's Woody Guthrie Prize)
“This 2008 book publication is a dandy! It is filled with insights and commentary on the legendary jazz pianist, Thelonious Monk.... well-researched and makes for enjoyable reading. Highly recommended." --Lee Prosser, jazzreview.com
Gabriel Solis is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign, where his focus is on jazz and World music.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
