Monk's Music

Occupation

Monk's Music is a jazz album by Thelonious Monk, taken on 25 and 26 June 1957 in New York City and released on Riverside Records.

The album

After he had already worked on 16 April 1957, the young and promising tenor saxophonist of the then avant-garde jazz, John Coltrane ( Thelonious Himself ( Riverside RLP 235 ) and Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane, Jazzland J 946 ), Monk and Coltrane had accompanied by Wilbur Ware on bass, and Shadow Wilson on drums, recorded in a prolonged stint in the New York jazz club the Five Spot on each other so that all harmonized with each other.

For the June session for Riverside Monk had the young musician as a contrast to the old masters of the tenor saxophone, Coleman Hawkins, compared .. The mitspielende drummer Art Blakey told Nat Hentoff of the bias and aloofness of the two tenor later: "Of course Monk wrote all the music but Hawk had problems to read them; so he asked Monk to explain it to him. Monk said to him: 'You are the great Coleman Hawkins, right? Then you 're the guy who invented the tenor saxophone, right ' Hawk agreed, then Monk turned to Trane, you're the great Coltrane, right? ' Trane blushed and muttered, Aw ... I 'm not so big. ' Then Monk said two: you play saxophone, right? ' They nodded. Well, the music is in the horn. You two makes of you, and then you should find it. '" The session on June 25, 1957 was accompanied by other difficulties; The band was completely released, only Monk was missing. To pass the time and einzuspielen itself, Hawkins led the blower with a simple blues theme; Alto saxophonist Gigi Gryce joined them, followed by trumpeter Ray Copeland, Coltrane and again Hawk. The whole was then called Blues for Tomorrow and Gigi Gryce attributed. As Monk finally appeared, only its composition Crepuscule with Nellie rewritten was recorded in two takes on this day, but have not considered ready for publication. Another attempt to record the piece, has been canceled ..

The next day, was scheduled better than Monk, then the actual session took place; until the sixth attempt Monk was satisfied with the recording of Crepuscule with Nellie. Furthermore, several variants of Off Minor emerged ( Take 5 finally appears on the LP). Hawkins begins with the first solo and thus trying to intimidate the young Coltrane. Hawkins ' biographer Teddy Doering describes the rivalry between the two saxophonists: It will take more than one title, to Trane has regained his self-confidence. And then Hawkins is the one who is impressed by how particularly in Well You Need not, and in the final Ruby My Dear shows ( in quartet combination ), because Hawkins uses some typical phrases Coltrane from those years. Otherwise, this last piece is fully in the balladry of Hawkins, tender and full of feeling, but also awe-inspiring, with very sensitive accompaniment chords by Monk.

Album Review

Monk's Music is now one of the essential albums of Thelonious Monk's creative period when he was from 1955 to 1961 with Orrin Keepnews ' Riverside Records, probably the most productive period in the work of the pianist. Richard Cook and Brian Morton, which include in their The Penguin Guide to Jazz album with the highest grade, call the June session "one of the best sounding sessions" of the pianist and one of the most challenging records he has ever recorded with horns. The extraordinary atmosphere of the session is emphasized by the underlying at the beginning of a cappella version of Abide with Me, a Christian hymn of the Englishman William Henry Monk (1823-1889), played only by the winds. Cook & Morton remember but also critical that Hawkins occasionally has problems found in Monk's music into it; Therefore, it sometimes seems, as if the six musicians, " at " Monk instead would "with" play him. But the atmosphere of the session was fascinating; and Monk play with his authority.

Editorial comments

The album was released on LP in Riverside ( R 242). Alternative takes of Epistrophy and Off Minor were released on the album Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane. The CD reissue was performed under the numbers OJC20 039-2 or 084-2 as OJC20 in expanded form. The recordings were also in the 15- CD edition Monk: The Complete Riverside Recordings include ( Riverside RCD -022 -2).

The Monk without rehearsed Blues for Tomorrow appeared on the same Riverside Anthology (RLP 243/OJC 030), which also contains tracks from Herbie Mann, Sonny Rollins, Mundell Lowe and Bobby Jaspar.

The title

( Riverside R 242 - Original LP-Ausgabe/OJC 084)

( OJC CD 20084-2 CD reissue )

All titles (except the first ) were composed by Monk.

Record label Genre Ray Copeland (musician) Richard Cook (journalist) Ian Carr Brian Priestley Columbia Records
579594
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