Thelonious Monk

Read About This Recording

One of the most original pianists and composers in jazz history, Thelonious Monk was considered so advanced and eccentric in his early days that even the most forward-looking beboppers of the 1940s tended to write off his music. Yet by sticking to his principles, Monk was finally recognized in 1957 as one of the giants of jazz.

Originally influenced by Teddy Wilson, James P. Johnson and Art Tatum, Monk had pared his style down quite a bit by the time he was a member of the house band at Minton's Playhouse in the early 1940s. His unusual chord voicings and accents, along with his more complex originals puzzled many onlookers and he only worked sporadically during 1946-56. But after his discovery in 1957 (when he led a quartet for months that featured John Coltrane), he became an unlikely celebrity, touring the world and playing as often as he liked until his retirement in the early 1970s.

This ten-CD set, imported from Europe, has nearly all of Thelonious Monk's recordings of 1944-54, just skipping a few alternate takes. Monk is heard as a sideman with the Coleman Hawkins quartet, on an all-star set with Miles Davis and Milt Jackson, sharing the piano on one number with Horace Silver, as an unaccompanied piano soloist, in a quintet with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and as a leader of combos. Among his sidemen are such notables as Art Blakey, Milt Jackson, Kenny Dorham, Lou Donaldson, Lucky Thompson, Max Roach and Sonny Rollins. Many of Thelonious Monk's most significant compositions were introduced during this era and their initial versions are on this valuable set. In addition, the tenth CD features some of the Monk's musical friends performing some of his songs.

This remarkable collection gives listeners some of the very best of Thelonious Monk.

-Scott Yanow

Contents

Imported from Europe!

CD 1 (TT: 35:34): Recollections; Flyin' Hawk; Drifting on a Reed; On the Bean; Thelonious; Evonce; Monk's Mood; Humph; Who Knows; April in Paris; Introspection; Evidence.

CD 2 (TT: 36:03): Misterioso; Off Minor; Epistrophy; Ruby My Dear; Nice Work If You Can Get It; Well, You Needn't; Who Knows; In Walked Bud; Nice Work If You Can Get It; Round Midnight; Suburban Eyes; All the Things You Are.

CD 3 (TT: 39:43): I Should Care; Evidence; Misterioso; Epistrophy; I Mean You; Leap Frog; Bloomdido; An Oscar for Treadwell; My Melancholy Baby; Mohawk; Relaxin' With Lee; Ask Me Now (Alternate Take).

CD 4 (TT: 35:09): Four in One (Alternate Take); Ask Me Now; Criss Cross; Criss Cross (Alternate Take); Eronel; Four in One; Straight No Chaser; Willow Weep for Me; Hornin' In; Let's Cool One; Skippy (Alternate Take).

CD 5 (TT: 33:05): Skippy; Sixteen; Carolina Moon; I'll Follow You; Sixteen (First Take); Sixteen (Second Take); Little Rootie Tootie; Monk's Dream; Bemsha Swing; Reflections.

CD 6 (TT: 43:15): We See; Smoke Gets in Your Eyes; Let's Call This; Think of One (Take 1); Think of One (Take 2); Friday the 13th; Locomotive.

CD 7 (TT: 40:01): Hackensack; Think of One (Take 1); Think of One (Take 1); Eronel; Evidence; Hackensack; Off Minor; Round About Midnight; Smoke Gets in Your Eyes; Well You Needn't.

CD 8 (TT: 41:49): Wee See; Nutty; Work; I Want to Be Happy; The Way You Look Tonight; More Than You Know; There Are Such Things.

CD 9 (TT: 47:07): Bags' Groove; Bemsha Swing; Swing Spring; The Man I Love; Bags' Groove.

CD 10 Friends Play Monk (TT: 35:45): Round About Midnight; Rhythm-a-Ning; Monk's Dream; Well You Needn't; 52nd Street Theme; Hornin' In; 'Round Midnight.

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