"Thelonious Monk: From Man to Myth (Part 1)" with Robin D.G. Kelley
Thelonious Monk was an innovator deeply rooted in tradition, a stride-influenced pianist marketed as “the high priest of bebop," a family man who became a bohemian icon, and one of the most significant composers of modern jazz. “Always know!" was a favored Monk proclamation, but in an ironic twist of fate, for more than half a century he's been one of the best-known and yet least-understood figures in the history of the music.
In the first of a two-part special Monk biographer Robin D.G. Kelley talks with me about Monk's early life in New York City's San Juan Hill neighborhood, a little-known woman stride pianist who played a key role in Monk's musical education, Monk's teenage tour-of-duty with an evangelical act, some of the misconceptions that surround the birth of bebop and Monk's role in it, and much, much more. We'll also hear many of Monk's early Blue Note recordings, some of his early-1950s Prestige sides, and two live 1940s recordings that feature Monk at Minton's (the legendary Harlem club that hosted some of the earliest bebop jam sessions) and with Charlie Parker.
In the first of a two-part special Monk biographer Robin D.G. Kelley talks with me about Monk's early life in New York City's San Juan Hill neighborhood, a little-known woman stride pianist who played a key role in Monk's musical education, Monk's teenage tour-of-duty with an evangelical act, some of the misconceptions that surround the birth of bebop and Monk's role in it, and much, much more. We'll also hear many of Monk's early Blue Note recordings, some of his early-1950s Prestige sides, and two live 1940s recordings that feature Monk at Minton's (the legendary Harlem club that hosted some of the earliest bebop jam sessions) and with Charlie Parker.
