Thelonious Monk · I know the classics

Beyond the classics: Monk

You know Brilliant Corners, Monk's Music and the Five Spot. This path fills in the rest of the story: the Blue Note sides that sit behind the famous ones, the Prestige dates with Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis, the Riverside years with Coltrane, Mulligan and Griffin, and the bands of the early 1960s.

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The other half of Blue Note
Genius of Modern Music Volume 2 Thelonious Monk · Blue Note BLP 1511 · 1956
Everyone owns the first volume of Genius of Modern Music. The second, issued in 1956, holds the rest of the 1947 dates plus two later sessions: July 23, 1951, with Milt Jackson, Sahib Shihab, Al McKibbon and Art Blakey, and May 30, 1952, with Kenny Dorham, Lou Donaldson, Lucky Thompson, Nelson Boyd and Max Roach. The 1951 date came just weeks before Monk lost his cabaret card. This is where "Straight, No Chaser" and "Four in One" were first recorded. It shows a composer already sure of himself, with almost nobody listening yet.
Start with
- Straight No Chaser
- Four In One
- Carolina Moon
"Straight, No Chaser" is a blues built on one short phrase moved around the bar, and "Four in One" a twisting line for horns and vibes in unison. In "Carolina Moon", an old pop tune, Monk turns the beat into a 6/4 waltz; Ira Gitler, in the original notes, heard it as a way to get away from the usual jazz beat and still swing.
In the band
Sahib Shihab · baritone sax
Sahib Shihab was born Edmund Gregory and took his Muslim name in 1947, the year he first recorded with Monk. He played alto here and later moved to baritone and flute. He worked with Dizzy Gillespie and then moved to Europe, where he played in the Kenny Clarke–Francy Boland Big Band and spent much of the rest of his career.
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With Milt Jackson
Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet Milt Jackson · Blue Note BLP 1509 · 1956
This 1956 LP is officially Milt Jackson's, but much of it is Monk's band and Monk's tunes. It joins the July 2, 1948 quartet date, with John Simmons and Shadow Wilson, the 1951 Monk quintet, and a 1952 Jackson date with the men who became the Modern Jazz Quartet. Leonard Feather, in the original notes, rated these Jackson's best records. Piano and vibes, both struck and ringing, fit closely, and Monk wrote lines for the two to play together. It is the first great partnership in Monk's career.
Start with
- Evidence
- Criss-Cross
- Eronel
"Evidence", from 1948, is Monk's rewrite of "Just You, Just Me", the melody broken into sharp, scattered notes. On "Criss-Cross" and "Eronel" from 1951, Shihab's alto and Jackson's vibes play Monk's lines in unison, then each takes a solo.
In the band
Milt Jackson · vibes
Milt Jackson, from Detroit, came to New York with Dizzy Gillespie's band in the mid-1940s. He played vibes with a slow, warm vibrato and a blues feeling at every tempo. His blues "Bags' Groove" is on this record. In 1952 he and John Lewis started what became the Modern Jazz Quartet, which he played in, on and off, for more than 40 years.
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Prestige quintets, 1953 and 1954
Thelonious Monk Thelonious Monk Quintet Featuring Sonny Rollins · Prestige PRLP 7053 · 1956
This 12-inch Prestige record, from 1956, joins two quintet dates. The first was November 13, 1953, with Sonny Rollins on tenor, Julius Watkins on French horn, Percy Heath and Willie Jones. The second was May 11, 1954, at Van Gelder's, with Ray Copeland on trumpet, Frank Foster on tenor, Curley Russell and Art Blakey. These were the cabaret-card years, when Monk could not play New York clubs, and records like these kept new tunes coming: "Hackensack", "We See", "Locomotive".
Start with
- Let's Call This
- Hackensack
- Think Of One (take two)
"Let's Call This" and "Think of One" come from the 1953 date. Listen to the French horn's soft, round tone beside Rollins's tenor, an unusual pair. "Hackensack", from 1954, is fast and full of twists, and named for the town where Van Gelder's studio was. Monk also gave "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" a radical reworking at the same date.
In the band
Frank Foster · tenor sax
Frank Foster, from Cincinnati, had just joined Count Basie's band when he made this date. He stayed with Basie until 1964 and wrote some of the band's best-known pieces, including "Shiny Stockings". He later led the Basie orchestra himself, from 1986, after Basie's death. Here, in a small group, you hear his big, hard-swinging tenor in a quite different setting.
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Friday the 13th and Rollins
Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins Thelonious Monk Quintet Featuring Sonny Rollins · Prestige PRLP 7075 · 1957
This 1957 LP pulls together three Prestige dates. "Friday the Thirteenth" comes from November 13, 1953, which really was a Friday: Ray Copeland fell ill and Julius Watkins took his place at the last minute, and Monk and Rollins arrived late because their taxi had an accident on the way. "Work" and "Nutty" come from a September 1954 trio with Percy Heath and Art Blakey. The last two tracks are from October 1954, Rollins's quartet with Tommy Potter and Art Taylor, with Monk at the piano.
Start with
- Friday The Thirteenth
- Nutty
- I Want To Be Happy
"Friday the Thirteenth" is built on falling chords, repeated over and over, and runs over ten minutes. "Nutty", from the trio, is a bouncing tune that became a Monk favourite. On "I Want to Be Happy" Monk plays an old show tune behind Rollins, and you can hear the two trading ideas.
In the band
Sonny Rollins · tenor sax
Sonny Rollins grew up in Harlem and as a teenager sought Monk out; he later called him a mentor. In 1954 he was 24 and already a striking young tenor player, recording for Prestige and writing tunes such as "Oleo" and "Doxy" that became standards. The next year he stepped away from the scene for a time to get clean.
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Miles, Monk and a false start
Miles Davis And The Modern Jazz Giants Miles Davis All Stars · Prestige PRLP 7150 · 1959
This 1959 compilation gathers the rest of the Christmas Eve 1954 session with Miles Davis, Milt Jackson, Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke at Van Gelder's. Davis wanted Monk to stay out from behind his solos, and the two argued. Ira Gitler, who was there and wrote the notes, said there was no fight. One take of "The Man I Love" begins with a false start when Monk asks when to come in, and Davis told Van Gelder to keep it all. The record ends with a 1956 "'Round Midnight" by Davis's quintet with John Coltrane: Monk's tune, without Monk.
Start with
- The Man I Love (take 2)
- Bemsha Swing
- Swing Spring
On "The Man I Love" listen for the talk and the false start, then Jackson's ballad playing and the moment Monk's own solo comes in. "Bemsha Swing" is Monk's tune, so you can hear how Davis handles it. "Swing Spring" is Davis's line. Then hear the closing "'Round Midnight" and compare.
In the band
Percy Heath · bass
Percy Heath, from Philadelphia, was a busy bass player in New York in the early 1950s and played on many of Monk's Prestige dates. He was a founding member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and stayed with it to the end. Later he played with his brothers, the saxophonist Jimmy and the drummer Albert, as the Heath Brothers. His firm, warm sound held this session together.
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Standards with Pettiford and Blakey
The Unique Thelonious Monk Thelonious Monk Trio · Riverside RLP 12-209 · 1956
Riverside's second Monk record, made in the spring of 1956 and issued that August, kept to the plan of the Ellington set: familiar songs to win new listeners. This time the songs were standards by many writers, from Fats Waller to Gershwin, with Oscar Pettiford on bass and Art Blakey on drums. People who own Brilliant Corners often skip it. They shouldn't: it is a trio record full of humour, and it shows how Monk could take an old song apart without losing its tune.
Start with
- Liza
- Tea For Two
- Just You, Just Me
"Liza" is quick and bright. On "Tea for Two" Monk pulls the old tune into odd shapes, then lets it settle. "Just You, Just Me" is the song he had already rewritten as "Evidence"; here you hear the original. "Memories of You" is Monk alone, without bass and drums.
In the band
Oscar Pettiford · bass
Oscar Pettiford was one of the first bass players to solo like a horn, and he led a band on 52nd Street with Dizzy Gillespie in the mid-1940s. He also played cello. He worked with Duke Ellington and Woody Herman and was on several of Monk's first Riverside records. In 1958 he moved to Copenhagen, where he died in 1960, aged 37.
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The quartet with Coltrane
Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane Thelonious Monk Solo · Jazzland JLP 46 · 1961
In 1957 Monk and John Coltrane spent six months at the Five Spot, but the quartet was hardly recorded. This 1961 Jazzland LP, issued once Coltrane was famous, holds three studio tracks the quartet cut that July, as the run began, with Wilbur Ware on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums. Keepnews filled out the record with two outtakes from the septet session and a solo "Functional" from the April solo sessions. It is the closest you get, in the studio, to the band people talked about for years.
Start with
- Trinkle, Tinkle
- Nutty
- Ruby, My Dear
"Trinkle, Tinkle" is one of Monk's hardest tunes, a fast, knotted line Coltrane plays alongside the piano. "Nutty" is lighter and lets Coltrane stretch. On "Ruby, My Dear" hear him play the ballad with long, careful lines. Listen for Ware's bass, which often moves in odd directions under the band.
In the band
Wilbur Ware · bass
Wilbur Ware came from Chicago and was largely self-taught. His bass lines were unusual: he would leave gaps, hit notes off the expected beat and choose odd notes in the chord, which made him a natural match for Monk. He played with Monk through much of 1957, including the Five Spot run, and that November he played on Sonny Rollins's live trio record at the Village Vanguard.
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Mulligan meets Monk
Mulligan Meets Monk Thelonious Monk And Gerry Mulligan · Riverside RLP 12-247 · 1957
In August 1957, in the middle of the Five Spot run, Monk recorded at Reeves with Gerry Mulligan, the baritone saxophonist best known for his cool, pianoless quartet on the West Coast. Wilbur Ware and Shadow Wilson made up the rhythm section. On paper it was an odd pairing, and that was the point. It is a record people tend to overlook, but it shows Monk adjusting to a very different horn player, and Mulligan rising to Monk's music.
Start with
- 'Round Midnight
- Decidedly (take 4)
- Straight, No Chaser (take 3)
"'Round Midnight" opens the record with the big horn playing Monk's best-known ballad. "Decidedly" is Mulligan's tune, so you hear Monk on someone else's ground. On "Straight, No Chaser" listen to how the baritone's low, light tone sits beside Monk's piano, and how Ware and Wilson keep things loose.
In the band
Gerry Mulligan · baritone sax
Gerry Mulligan arranged for Claude Thornhill and for the Miles Davis nonet heard on Birth of the Cool. In 1952 he formed a quartet with Chet Baker on trumpet and no piano, and it made him famous. He played the baritone with a light, nimble sound. Recording with Monk, of all pianists, was a real test, and he chose it.
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Misterioso, the other Five Spot night
Misterioso Thelonious Monk Quartet · Riverside RLP 12-279 · 1958
The same August 1958 night that gave Riverside its first Five Spot record also gave it Misterioso, issued that December, with Johnny Griffin, Ahmed Abdul-Malik and Roy Haynes. The cover reproduces Giorgio de Chirico's 1915 painting The Seer. At first, critics praised Monk and doubted Griffin; Nat Hentoff thought him out of place. Time has turned that round. The critic Robert Christgau has named this his favourite album, and Griffin's playing is now often heard as its high point.
Start with
- In Walked Bud
- Misterioso
- Let's Cool One
Christgau calls Griffin's tenor solo on "In Walked Bud" his "favorite five minutes of recorded music." Listen to how fast and long Griffin plays, and how Monk lays out and comes back. "Misterioso" is a slow blues built on walking sixths. "Let's Cool One" is a quieter tune Monk first recorded in 1952.
In the band
Johnny Griffin · tenor sax
Johnny Griffin was famous among players for speed: he could play long, fast lines without losing the beat. With Monk he had to find a way through tunes that don't reward speed alone, and he did. After this he co-led a two-tenor band with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, and in 1963 he moved to Europe for good.
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Five by Monk by five
5 By Monk By 5 Thelonious Monk Quintet · Riverside RLP 305 · 1959
In June 1959 Monk took a quintet into the studio for Riverside: Thad Jones on cornet, Charlie Rouse on tenor, Sam Jones on bass and Art Taylor on drums. The title says it: five musicians, five Monk tunes. Two were new, "Jackie-ing" and "Played Twice". The Penguin Guide to Jazz calls it "a relatively little-known Monk session, but a very good one." Rouse had been with Monk only a few months, and you can hear the band that would carry Monk's music for the next decade taking shape.
Start with
- Jackie-ing
- Played Twice (take 3)
- Ask Me Now
Monk taught "Jackie-ing" to the band by humming it to them. "Played Twice" makes its first appearance here; listen for its stop-start theme. "Ask Me Now" is a ballad that runs over ten minutes, with plenty of room for Monk and for Thad Jones's soft, light cornet.
In the band
Thad Jones · trumpet
Thad Jones, from Pontiac, Michigan, was the brother of the pianist Hank Jones and the drummer Elvin Jones. He played trumpet and cornet in Count Basie's band from 1954 to 1963 and wrote for it. In 1965 he and Mel Lewis started a big band at the Village Vanguard that played every Monday night for years. He was a writer of tunes as twisty as Monk's.
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San Francisco, plus two horns
Thelonious Monk Quartet Plus Two At The Blackhawk Thelonious Monk Quartet Plus Two · Riverside RLP 323 · 1960
In April 1960 Monk took his quartet, with Charlie Rouse, John Ore and Billy Higgins on drums, to the Black Hawk in San Francisco. Riverside recorded them live with two local horns added: Joe Gordon on trumpet and Harold Land on tenor. It also has a tune not on the earlier records, "Worry Later". The band had little time together, and the rough edges are part of the charm.
Start with
- Let's Call This
- Worry Later
- 'Round Midnight
With three horns, Monk's tunes take on a fuller sound. On "Let's Call This" hear how the horns divide the theme. "Worry Later" was later also called "San Francisco Holiday". "'Round Midnight" shows how Monk's favourite ballad sounds with this band.
In the band
Harold Land · tenor sax
Harold Land, raised in San Diego, had been the tenor player in the Clifford Brown–Max Roach Quintet in 1954 and 1955. He then settled in Los Angeles, where he led his own groups and made The Fox in 1959. He plays with a dark, rounded tone and a gift for long lines. Here, a West Coast player steps straight into Monk's music.
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Big band at Lincoln Center
Big Band And Quartet In Concert Thelonious Monk · Columbia CL 2164 · 1964
On December 30, 1963, Monk played Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center with his quartet, then with Charlie Rouse, Butch Warren on bass and Frankie Dunlop, joined by six horns. Hall Overton, who had arranged the 1959 Town Hall concert, wrote the charts again. In between those two concerts, Monk had become famous: two months later he was on the cover of Time. This record, issued in 1964, shows the music written out large again, with the long "Oska T" and a solo spot for Monk.
Start with
- Oska T
- When It's Darkness On The Delta
- Four In One
"Oska T" runs over nine minutes on the LP; listen for how Overton spreads Monk's theme across the horns. "When It's Darkness on the Delta" is Monk alone, a short break in the big-band sound. "Four in One" turns the 1951 quintet line into a full band piece.
In the band
Steve Lacy · soprano sax
Steve Lacy, from New York, played soprano saxophone, then a rare instrument in modern jazz. He loved Monk's music so much that in 1958 he made a whole album of it, Reflections, and in 1960 he played in Monk's band for about four months. In 1970 he settled in Paris, where he lived for more than 30 years and kept playing Monk's tunes all his life.
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