The Best of Thelonious Monk: The Blue Note Years

Thelonious Monk | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 26, 1991)
• Original Release Date: March 26, 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B000005HGN
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,378 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #2 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Modern Post Bop
  • #2 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Bebop
  • #5 in Music > Jazz > Traditional Jazz & Ragtime > Stride Piano

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars start here with Monk!, September 6, 2000

By 

R. Hutchinson "autonomeus" (a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best of Thelonious Monk: The Blue Note Years (Audio CD)

This is the place to start if you're looking into the music of the great Thelonious Monk. Collected here are more of Monk's compositions in concentrated form than in any other place. There are many later versions of many of them, including of course by other musicians such as Steve Lacy, but these are the first recordings, the templates. You can hear the structure of the music more clearly than in any of the great Riverside records such as BRILLIANT CORNERS.

As the liner notes say, Monk's music is "always off center, but it always swings." "Well You Needn't," "In Walked Bud" and "Straight No Chaser" are up-tempo and catchy as hell -- you won't be able to get them out of your head. "Misterioso" sounds just like the title -- fractured, odd piano and vibes. Listen closely to "Skippy" and hear why no one attempted to cover it for 30 years! "Monk's Mood" is gorgeous, slow and romantic. I first heard it on Jack DeJohnette's ALBUM ALBUM from 1984 with David Murray and John Purcell on sax. Of course "Round Midnight" quickly became a standard, an ineffably sad ballad covered by Miles among many others.

Here's a fun piece of trivia -- the recording engineer for these sessions is Harry Smith. Yes, it turns out, it is THAT Harry Smith, the guy who compiled the famous Anthology of American Folk Music, recently reissued by the Smithsonian Institute. Smith used to project light shows of his own creation as accompaniment to jazz shows in the Bay Area!

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling as a listening experience: also, vital history, July 30, 2002

By 

William E. Adams (Midland, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best of Thelonious Monk: The Blue Note Years (Audio CD)

These are the earliest Monk recordings to be issued on CD, apparently. All but one of the 16 short pieces is a Monk original, heard here in its first recorded form. Since Monk reused his compositions time and again, with all kinds of fellow players and at widely varying lengths over more than 20 years, the real Monk fan will find this a must-own, and will compare the later versions to these performances. The songs on this disc might seem sketchy and tentative to some listeners, while others may prefer them to renditions which later doubled the length of many items. There are some sidemen present who later became quite famous, such as Art Blakey on drums and Milt Jackson on vibes, but these late-40's releases are worth having because of the odd, interesting compositions and Monk's own evident talent. If you are a casual jazz fan who wants some Thelonious in the home collection, but who cares not for the historic value of the first records by a genius, try "Thelonious Monk/Sonny Rollins" or "Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane" first. Those are even better than this for pure listening pleasure. If you can afford this one as your third Monk disc, you won't be sorry.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thelonious Monk is at his sparse, melodic best., July 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best of Thelonious Monk: The Blue Note Years (Audio CD)

There is only one standout on these recordings: Thelonious Monks beautiful melodic structures. The recording quality, especially the bass, is not stellar. The accompanying musicians, excepting Monk, Blakey and Milt Jackson are so-so. It's the melodies, chord structures and progressions that make you just love listening to this CD over and over again. The way he purposely plays what most consider "wrong" notes to emphasize a statement or simply just to defy the normal route our ears hear to resovle a phrase. Because of the less than stellar musicians I believe this forces the artist to guide our ears along to hear what he hears in his head but this also creates such warmth, as in Ruby My Dear and In Walked Bud etc. that I get the impression that we are listening in on session in which Monk is working out the details - it shows the creative evolvement of his line of thought. His line of thought is unique and awesome. And if for some stupid reason you believe rumors that have stated: Monk doesn't really know music theory and can't really play, then, I suggest you pick up Charlie Christian Live At Minton's (which is rippin Charlie Christian) but also is a blazing Thelonius (and Gillespie!).