Thelonious Monk Solo Monk CD

W/ 9 Bonus Tracks.

Solo performer: Thelonious Monk (piano).
Recorded between October 31, 1964 and February 23, 1965. Originally released on Columbia (9149). Includes liner notes by Martin Williams, Peter Keepnews.
Personnel: Thelonious Monk (piano).
Liner Note Authors: Peter Keepnews; Martin Williams ; Orrin Keepnews.
Recording information: 10/31/1964-03/02/1965.
Photographer: Don Hunstein.
The mystery and haunting angular beauty of Thelonious Monk's unadorned keyboard sides are the focus of Solo Monk. As if possessing the history of jazz in his hands, Monk's solo recordings and performances from every phase of his career remain pure. The components of what made Monk such an uncompromising composer, arranger, and especially bandmember are evident in every note he plays. The disc includes both Monk originals as well as several covers of pop music standards. A majority of these sides were cut during a West Coast swing in late-October/early-November 1964. This highly productive jaunt would likewise yield two live releases: Live at the It Club and Live at the Jazz Workshop; both would feature Monk's quartet. On an emotional level, however, these sides arguably surpass many of the band recordings. "Sweet and Lovely" contains several passages that are played with the command and intensity usually demanded of a classical work. The intense yet sophisticated chord progressions that punctuate "Ruby, My Dear" transform what once were simple pop melodies into unaccompanied rhapsodies. Monk transforms the solitude of "Everything Happens to Me" into a minor bop masterpiece replete with his signature disjointed phrasings and variable pacing. The 1992 CD reissue added one bonus track -- a Monk original titled "Introspection" -- which now closes the collection. Parties interested in a more complete retrospective of Thelonious Monk's '60s solo recordings should also check out Monk Alone: The Complete Columbia Solo Piano Recordings 1962-1968. ~ Lindsay Planer
From the virtuosic stride of Art Tatum to Sun Ra's brand of outer-limits logic, these sides read like a holistic jazz piano guide. Recorded during a 1964 run at California's "It Club," the performances contained herein offer an intensely personal experience of the "mad genius" alone at the keyboard. Most of the cuts clock in at less than three or four minutes.
More than half of this material is standards, the Tin Pan Alley of Monk's youth. "Dinah" is a sweet 1925'er, rendered in fairly straight fashion. Monk's percussive emphasis gives his bass notes the oom-pah of a tuba as his right-hand dances gaily through the golden melody. "Ruby My Dear" is a lovely ballad, given an almost unsettling spaciousness here. The improvisation is relatively spare, with several rounds of the melody grounded in heavily-planted voicings and occasional lead-ins. "Monk's Point" has the simple insistency of many other Monk blues tunes, his left and right hands having a grand time tossing the spotlight back and forth in the solo.
Thelonious Monk made a total of six solo piano recordings in his lifetime. The first three were between 1954-1959 for the Riverside label and its affiliates, two were for Alfred Lion's Black Lion label very late in his career, and Solo Monk was in 1964 and 1965 recorded mainly out West while on tour. As with Legacy's other reissues, Solo Monk is a deluxe package for a fair price. Here are the original 12 tunes comprised of four originals and eight standards as well as nine really alternate takes. In addition, there is a recording here of his little-known or -played composition "North of the Sunset." Monk's solo recordings always stood in stark contrast to his ensemble works; the voice here is less strident and dissonant in that he plays against a less-varied set of tonalities, and the solo pianist has the opportunity to sing through the instrument because it is not accountable to any other player. The beauty of his "Sweet 'n' Lovely," or the old standard "I Shou