Thelonious Monk
Reviewed on this page:
The Best Of (The Blue Note Years) - Plays Duke Ellington - Brilliant
Corners - Monk's Music - Live At
The Five Spot - At Carnegie Hall - Mulligan Meets Monk -
Misterioso - Alone In San
Francisco - At The Blackhawk - Monk's Dream - Criss Cross
- Live At The IT! Club - Straight
No Chaser - Underground - Monk's
Blues - Straight No Chaser: Music From The Motion Picture - Pure Monk
It's not easy to grade Thelonious Monk releases. He's always Monk,
always sounds just like himself and nobody else (his song title
"Ugly Beauty" describes his sound better than any words I could
use). He wrote most of his songs before he was thirty and recorded
them over and over again. Unrivaled as a musical humorist; he'll
play a note that sounds obviously wrong - then the next time around
the whole band plays it. His rhythmic sense is so unique you wonder
if he's for real. And his ballads are more off-kilter and
unconventional than his uptempo pieces, with melodies so refined
that his soloists (including many of the top reedmen of the day)
are often reduced to just playing the melody with a few
embellishments.
For me, his various talents are displayed best on the quartet and
quintet recordings. But in my heart I think of everything of his as
a five star record: pick up anything with his name on it (except
for the bizarre big band record Monk's Blues) and you won't
go far wrong. And don't confuse him with his son, who put out some late
70s disco records under the name "T.S. Monk" but is now running the MonkZone.com site, which sells MP3 and CDs of rare recordings from the family archives.
(DBW)
 The Best Of (The Blue Note Years) (rec. 1947-1952)
All three-minute recordings (originally issued on 78s), this is the
best place to hear his compositions as compositions rather
than as solo vehicles. Includes some rarely recorded Monk
originals: "Ask Me Now," "Skippy." (DBW)
 Plays Duke Ellington (1955)
Monk spent years recording for Riverside, during which time they
never stopped trying to convince the world that he was a genius.
(Once they succeeded, of course, he split for Columbia.) This time
they asked him to record an LP of Ellington tunes to convince the
typical square listener that Monk was a jazz musician, not a
creature from another (more musically advanced) planet. I don't
know how successful this was from a marketing standpoint; Monk
seems a little restrained here, and it's not the best introduction
to his style - you may just think "Boy, this guy has a rudimentary
piano technique" unless you've heard his other recordings. (DBW)
 Brilliant Corners (1956)
There's weird stuff here, including a thirteen minute version of
the slooow blues "Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-lues-Are" (later retitled
simply "Bolivar Blues"), the lovely "Pannonica" with Monk on piano
and celeste, apparently at the same time, and a disjointed recording
of the title tune. (Apparently the musicians had so much trouble
playing it that they couldn't get through a whole take; the final
version was spliced together from various attempts.) Also a great
version of the classic "Bemsha Swing." (DBW)
 Monk's Music (1957)
An all-star cast including John
Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins and Art Blakey take on a set of Monk
standards. Hawk's solo on "Ruby My Dear" is gut-wrenching, the new
composition "Crepescule With Nellie" is breathtaking, and the
uptempo "Well You Needn't" and "Epistrophy" have never sounded
better. (DBW)
Live At The Five Spot (rec. 1957, rel. 1993)
The first recording to document Monk's 1957 long-running live engagement with John Coltrane, which was a watershed in both artists' careers. The
CD was made from a mono tape recorded with a single handheld mike... in short, it sounds like a bootleg, so the newly released Carnegie Hall concert is greatly preferable.
But the performances live up to their reputation, and three of the five tunes here ("Trinkle Tinkle," "In Walked Bud" and "I Mean You") don't appear on Carnegie Hall, so you may want to suffer through the tape hiss anyway. (DBW)
At Carnegie Hall (rec. 1957, rel. 2005)
Finally, a reason to be thankful for the Voice of America: their library of live tapes, transferred to the Library of Congress in 1963, includes both sets the Monk Quartet with John Coltrane performed on November 29, 1957. The sound quality is terrific, and Monk's in a lively, playful mood ("Bye-Ya"), so this disc would be worth picking up even if Trane weren't on it; since he is, it's a must-have.
Unlike any other saxophonist I've heard attempt "Evidence," Trane tames the tune, with long swirling lines that elucidate without restating Monk's terse theme. In fact, Trane's playing on every track merits serious study, both from the perspective of how his techniques - especially the famous "sheets of sound" - were developing, and how he applied his own concepts to Monk's singular compositions.
I have one gripe, though: the longest song on the disc is the least interesting, the standard "Sweet And Lovely" (everything else is a Monk original).
(DBW)
 Mulligan Meets Monk (1957)
Riverside would try anything to get Monk across to the jazz-buying
public. Here he's paired with Gerry Mulligan, a dominant influence
on cool jazz, and jazz's defining baritone sax player. But
Mulligan's out of his element and sounds uncomfortable, except for
his tender reading of Monk's best-known tune, "Round Midnight."
(DBW)
Misterioso (1958)
More live recordings of some of Monk's more familiar tunes. Tenor
player Johnny Griffin is talented, but doesn't fit into Monk's mode
the way Charlie Rouse would. (DBW)
Alone In San Francisco (1959)
A solo piano album, with the loosest interpretations of Monk classics like "Blue Monk" and "Ruby, My Dear" than I've ever heard. He also includes four standards, and two new originals: "Bluehawk," and the bizarre "Round Lights." All the cuts except one were first takes, and he must have been in remarkably good form: the rhythmic invention is outstanding even for him. A solo piano album for people like me, who don't like solo piano albums. (DBW)
At The Blackhawk (1960)
Charlie Rouse swings hard on yet-another live album, with two extra
horn players added to the quartet. Some rarely-recorded tunes
including the new "Worry Later," a great extended version of "Round
Midnight" and the CD release has two bonus tracks. (DBW)
Monk's Dream (1962)
Monk's fame was finally starting to catch up with his ability, and
he got a contract with Columbia. This was the first record under
that contract. It was a commercial breakthrough, but not an
artistic one: a bunch of old compositions, one new song ("Bright
Mississippi") and three standards ("Just A Gigolo" and "Body And
Soul" are beautifully done). (DBW)
Criss Cross (1963)
Repeating the formula of Monk's Dream, but it still works.
Some rarely recorded songs ("Hackensack," "Eronel, "Think Of One")
but nothing really new. (DBW)
 Live At The IT! Club (1964)
A bunch of great performances on this double album, including my
favorite performance of my favorite Monk tune, "Evidence." Rouse
and the other band members are all at their best, and Monk is...
well, who else? (DBW)
Straight No Chaser (1966)
Though there are no new Monk compositions, this is excellent from start to finish. Some familiar tunes ("Locomotive,"
the title song) get extended quartet treatments, and the rarely-recorded "We See" is a pleasure to hear. Rouse is also in exceptional form throughout, and Monk's solo take on
Ellington's "I Didn't Know About You" is moving. The record's strangest feature is a rendition of "Kojo No Tsuki" (AKA "Japanese Folk Song"), a 1930's pop song by R. Taki that gets a powerful, swinging reading here. Make sure you get the new CD release, which contains full length versions of three tunes which were originally edited down to fit on LP, plus a brief version of the standard "This Is My Story, This Is My Song" and a take of "Green Chimneys," a later version of which turnd up on Underground.
(DBW)
Underground (1968)
Several new tunes here, and they're good ("Ugly Beauty," the 29-bar
"Green Chimneys," "Boo Boo's Birthday"). And it's worth getting for
the album cover (which I believe won a Grammy) alone. (DBW)
 Monk's Blues (1968)
It's interesting to hear Monk's compositions given standard big
band arrangements, and fun to hear Monk banging away in his usual
clattery manner in the middle of it all... a couple of times. Then
you'll probably put the record up on your back shelf. (DBW)
Straight No Chaser: Music From The Motion Picture (rec. 1956-68, rel. 1989)
I always thought this was just a compilation, but most of the material appears here for the first time: mostly unaccompanied piano recorded in informal settings,
plus some stuff from a 1968 European tour by a rarely heard octet. The solo piano includes a great early reading of "Pannonica" and broad takes on some standards
("Don't Blame Me" shows a facility rarely heard on Monk's own compositions). The octet plays an interesting arrangement of "Evidence," and
then there's an unsatisfying Frankenstein track with excerpts from an octet rehearsal bracketing a live Monk solo ("I Mean You"). Then there
are a few previously released recordings: "Trinkle Tinkle" featuring Trane; "Ugly Beauty" and the title track. Overall, it's not comprehensive
enough for collectors, and too obscure for novices.
(DBW)
Pure Monk (1970)
Solo Monk, playing a bunch of standards and his best known
compositions. I have a hard time getting into solo piano albums,
and I'm not familiar with many of these "standards," so this record
is probably substantially better than I think it is. (DBW)
Well, you
needn't stick around here any longer.
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