Customer Reviews

At Town Hall

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ordinarily, I prefer Monk in a trio setting. My favorite of his albums is "Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington," in which it's just Monk's piano, drums and bass. That, to me, is just enough accompaniment to garnish his sound without crowding it.

But oddly enough, I love the 1959 Town Hall Concert, in which Monk is part of a 10-piece band. I think it's something about the combination of Jay McAllister's tuba, Sam Jones' rubbery bass and the beautiful oddball baritone saxophone of Pepper Adams.

This stuff swings ("Friday the 13th") and it's a fun album but also clearly a product of intense concentration on all sides. It's full of beautiful, melancholy moments ("Monk's Mood") but it also tweaks a Monk staple ("Crepsucule with Nellie"). And it just has some great, kick back and listen gems: a nicely bulked-up "Thelonious," and "Off Minor" and "Little Rootie Tootie" (both within the concert and as an encore).

An excellent album.

How do you explain this album except to say "WOW!" Thelonious and a bunch of horns blowing through some of his coolest compositions from up to that point. People have said that this is how Monk heard his music. Given the creativity and energy that went into these arrangements, I don't doubt that for one second. An excellent album, and a must have for any serious jazz collection

Yhis was my introduction to Thelonious Monk and it blew me away. The orchestra does wonders-it never loses the intimacy of Monk's music, it just gains intensity. Thelonious, the first track, never sounded better than with the furious, wailing treatment it gets here. My favorite Monk album

i was smart enough to be in the audience that nite. if you listen closely you can hear me applauding...and i still am! any album of monks' is worth the price of admission and this CD of LIVE big band monk is a one & only. there's mucho quartet, trio etc out there...i love the Black Lion solo stuff his wife made him do, all 6 CDs...and the LIVE 5 SPOT recordings (hear me clapping on those too?) BUY THIS...Buy EVERY monk side you can. he is a world treasure to be treasured over & over. ENJOY

What's to say? Every cut is perfect. It's Monk in a big band setting. (Arrangements are by Hall Overton).

My favorite cut is sort of a bebop version of "Johnny One Note" called "Thelonious." If you're new to bebop, listen to this tune - the melody centers close to a one-note drone, which sets off the bebop chordal counterpoint in a way that's both gripping and easy to understand.

Monk's solos are all superb. And there are two booting alto solos by Phil Woods (in my opinion all time classic jazz solos)- one on Little Rootie Tootie and the other I think on Friday the 13th.

This album goes in and out of print quite often, so buy it while you still have the chance.

This concert from 1959 will inevitably be compared to the 1963 concert at Lincoln Center. Certainly, the latter was more expansive, including extended performances by Monk's quartet and even a piano solo, but this album has an exqusite charm, a freshness --perhaps because no one knew that Hall Overton could transpose Monk's music into such a graceful band setting. "Little Rootie Tootie" and "Thelonious" are stand-outs here --the latter even gets an orchestral underpinning like a stride piano-- but the unmistakable masterpiece is "Monk's Mood," which glistens under Eddie Bert's reading on trombone, with a lovely bridge by trumpeter Donald Byrd. (I think it was to Byrd that Monk said "Don't play be-bop [expletive deleted] on my songs. You have to know the melody!") Charlie Rouse does not stretch out as long as on the 1963 concert recording, and I think the more compact result is a vast improvement.

Yes, this giant sized (brontosaurus) orchestra for Monk's usual standards (actually, quite a normal, even modest big-band sized orchestra) works really well. This CD should be owned by every Monk fan and modern jazz fan.

Should the die-hard big band fans tag along and acquire it?
It's hard to say: this is not a classical or even typical modernist big band - this is a logical extension of Monk's beautiful mind.
So, try for your self: I can personally never get too much Monk.

Granted that the music in this album recorded in 1959 is not new in itself, the arrangements in it are different from your "typical" Thelonious Monk. He steps into big band-type territory, with the participation of a ten piece band, away from the 'more limited' standard four or five piece ensemble. To take the tracks into that new direction (consider there are parts for a tuba, Franch horn, trombone, trumpet, baritone, tenor and alto sax here, on top of the piano, bass and drums) he counted on Hall Overton, a long time Monk enthusiast and composer/pianist/teacher himself.

Worth mentioning in particular are the opening track (I can keep on listening to it for a thousand times!) and the 9+ min long "Friday the 13th" where Phil Woods steps in with a quite remarkable alto sax solo.

ONE OF MELODIOUS BEST ALBUMS, EVERY TRACK IS GREAT, ESPECIALLY WITH THE AWESOME SHM AUDIO FORMAT. MUST HAVE FOR ANY CD COLLECTION, BUT DON'T PAY THESE RIDICULOUS OVER-INFLATED PRICES, I BOUGHT MINE FROM THE MUSIC SPECIALIST ON E BAY, THEY ALSO HAVE A STORE IN GEMM, ANTEATERMUSIC. SAVE YOURSELF A TON OF CASH.
CHEERS!

This is an incredibly fine album. It is truly facinating to hear Monk's music translated to a big band format.

I just love this music. It sounds almost weird at times but very beautiful at the same time. And those Monkish harmonies! There is nothing like it.