Live at the It Club

Read About This Recording

One of the geniuses of American music, Thelonious Monk was a completely original pianist and composer throughout his career. Although a bit influenced by Teddy Wilson and James P. Johnson in his earliest days and often considered one of the founders of bebop, Monk sounded like no one else by the time he made his first studio recordings in 1944. His chord voicings were unique, he could play stride piano in a very sparse and futuristic way, and his compositions were considered so complex that, even during the bop era (despite "'Round Midnight" becoming a standard), the most adventurous beboppers generally avoided his music.

So, as was typical of Monk, he did the unpredictable and largely stayed the same throughout his career. It took 10 years but, finally in 1957, the jazz world caught up with Thelonious and he began to receive the acclaim that he deserved by the mid-1940s. Monk became one of the most famous of all jazz musicians, even making the cover of Time Magazine in 1964, without watering down or simplifying his music. He remained a vital force until his retirement in the mid-1970s and, since his death, his influence and fame have grown even more.

Live At The It Club is a two-CD set that has all of the music performed by Monk and his quartet on a night in 1964. With tenor-saxophonist Charlie Rouse, bassist Larry Gales and drummer Ben Riley, the pianist jams on 19 selections, three of which were previously unreleased while nine were only out before in edited form (with the bass and/or drums solos often cut out). Highlights include "Blue Monk," "Well You Needn't," "Rhythm-A-Ning," "Straight, No Chaser" and "Just You, Just Me."

The typically unique compositions and solos of Thelonious Monk result in quite a bit of wonderful music on this enjoyable release.

—Scott Yanow

Extended Article

Although this two-CD set must be considered a reissue, it is in great part a new collection by Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) featuring three previously unreleased titles (Teo, Bright Mississippi and Just You, Just Me, totaling nearly 27 minutes) and no less than 11 performances that now appear for the first time in their complete versions. (Originally part of a 1982 two-record set, they were edited to fit within the time limitations of the LP configuration.)

The result is more than two-and-a-half hours of the Monk quartet straight, no chaser, at a long-defunct Los Angeles club in 1964, the year in which the evidence of this uniquely brilliant pianist-composer's growing renown was, improbably enough, a Time Magazine cover story. The quartet was, generally speaking, Monk's vehicle of choice and this particular foursome was at once tightly knit and expansive.

In the dry-toned tenor saxophone of Charlie Rouse, who was associated with the Genius of Modern Music from 1959-1970, Monk found an authoritative voice that gave his work additional spark and resonance. And the recently paired rhythm team of bassist Larry Gales and drummer Ben Riley kept the beat moving with elasticity and utter elan.

As for Monk himself, the adjective most frequently used to describe his piano playing is jagged. But by re-configuring the way one listens to accommodate the pianist's much-discussed dissonant harmonic sense, one finds that Monk's solos are models of musical logic and inviting, if off-center, melodicism.

Many of Monk's most important and enduring pieces (including a double time reading of 'Round Midnight, which one sage dubbed the national anthem of jazz) are here in extended renditions, as are such rarely essayed numbers as the daunting Gallop's Gallop and three standard tunes which, of course, are given Monkian transformations.

Thelonious Monk Live At the It Club—Complete, produced for reissue by Orrin Keepnews (who was Monk's producer during a golden period at Riverside Records from 1955-1961), offers new liner notes by the esteemed jazz critic Bob Blumenthal, previously unpublished photographs and a 20-bit digital remastering that makes this set sound brighter and crisper than ever before. Closing our eyes, we see Monk's patented spinning, shuffling dance steps on the bandstand, live at the It Club.

Contents

Blue Monk; Well, You Needn't; 'Round Midnight; Rhythm-a-ning; Blues Five Spot; Bemsha Swing; Evidence; Nutty; Epistrophe (Theme); Straight, No Chaser; Teo; I'm Getting Sentimental Over You; Misterioso; Gallop's Gallop; Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are; Bright Mississippi; Just You, Just Me; All the Things You Are; Epistrophy (Theme).

Thelonious Monk, Piano; Charlie Rouse, Tenor Sax; Larry Gales, Bass; Ben Riley, Drums.

Live recording.

CD Special Features

Jazz masterpiece — 2-CD set