Customer Reviews

Monk

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This one's a recent reissue and gives 68 minutes of pleasure. Perhaps it is just a hair below "Monk's Dream" in overall excitement, but the distinction is a small one. Personal taste has to come into play when rating one Monk release against another, because there do not seem to be any failures. On this 1964 effort with Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, plus bass and drums, Thelonious tackles the standard "April in Paris" in two takes occupying 16 minutes. While you can certainly recognize the tune in each version, he and the group do intriguing things with it. A novelty on here is "Children's Song", also known as "This Old Man, He Play One" and Monk's sense of fun is contagious. The whole thing is good, and if you have earphones, give this CD an hour of total attention in an intimate way. Once you do that, then having it on the living room machine or on in the car will be even more enjoyable, despite distractions and conversations. Many people seem to feel Monk strayed too far from conventional melody too often. I own seven of his CD's now, and that's not a complaint I share. I hear him teasing, departing, experimenting, challenging and returning, and guiding his combo to do the same. But while he liked to hit what other people called "the wrong note" on purpose, to me, he has hardly created any single minute in all seven CD's which is harsh. I am not a musician, and the terms "dissonance" or "atonal" have technical meanings I'm unsure of, but I have even heard late-career relases by John Coltrane, who I love, which are unpleasant and too weird for me. Thelonious isn't like that. There is always "music" under his fingers, and he always gets back to it quickly if he does stray. Don't be afraid of Monk if you are new to jazz. Buy one of his efforts after reading several reviews and take a chance. I don't think you'll be sorry.

Recorded in October 1964 by what was Monk's regular quartet at the time, this has definately stood the test of time, is enhanced by the remastering and has the bonus of three extra tracks ( of which more later).Monk's idiosyncratic piano playing is at the fore in each of the selections, but Charlie Rouse on Tenor Sax does his best to match him, laying down squirting fluid blocks of notes as a counterpoint to the blocks of bent piano notes.Larry Gales on Bass and Ben Riley on drums add to the mix, unerringly managing to pick up where Rouse or Monk are going to turn. The album is also full of humour, with quirky signatures cropping up throughout the released album and the bonus tracks; listening to "Childrens Song" there are snatches of several themes all skillfully woven together. It's difficult to choose favourites, but "Pannonica" (which is retake two) works for me. Even better in some ways is the Medley on track 10 is what this quartet was about. Monk takes a single chorus of "Just You" then (clearly without warning)takes off into "Lisa" with Rouse seemingly undisturbed by this development finding his way seamlessly into it, and that tune continues until one verse from the end when Monk takes it back into 'Just you". A breathtaking end to a great album that with this reissue has become a "must have".

I'm not entirely sure how the criticism managed to come about that this album isn't one of Monk's better works during his years at Columbia. "Monk." is a winner from start to finish and provides an excellent snapshot of the the lineup, one of Monk's most widely known groups, working brilliantly together. The song choices and soloing are excellent, with Charlie Rouse on tenor doing some of his best playing, and there's even a Monk solo piece as well. Another astounding album from Monk & Co.

This album tends to be overlooked because it only contains two Monk compositions, only one of which ("Teo") was new. But this is a hugely important work in the Monk catalog because it revisits some ancient standards ("Liza" and "Just You, Just Me") that were key launching pads for Monk's compositional and improvisatory style. He'd worked his entire approach out of enlessly replaying a handful of old chestnuts like these. Hearing Monk's mature quartet of the 1960s revisit them in pristine Columbia Records sound is simply a treat not to be missed. Meanwhile, Monk's deconstruction of "April in Paris" is so thoroughly different than other deconstructions, e.g., Wild Bill Davis' amazing arrangement of the tune for the Basie Orchestra, that it becomes its own definitive alterna-version. This entire album is not only one of Monk's most joyous in tone, it's also one of his most strikingly minimalist, and Monk's taking beautiful rhythmic risks throughout. I defy you to listen to it without your feet moving. Charlie Rouse is also superb, with long, developed solos and a sumptuous sound that should lay to rest any doubts that his was an exceedingly important voice on the tenor sax. Monk. deserves recognition as more than just the ugly stepchild of Thelonious' Columbia recordings.

Many people and fans of the great Thelonius Monk felt that his best releases were on the Riverside, that when he transferred to Columbia after Riverside's demise--he was merely repeating himself. And yet his creativity did not wane, he could churn out some new tunes like "Teo", "Raised Fourths" and "In Walked Bud". So what is his best on Columbia? This one comes awfully close from the moment he plays "Liza (till the clouds roll by)" to "April in Paris", the mood is one of pure joy and the liner notes by Bill Evans outline his gratitude to Monk when he befriended Bill when he first came to New York. As Bill would say, "Revel in his artistry and bless his originality".

I remember dancing to this when I was 3. I guess this was my first favorite album. [I was born in 1963.]
Thanks Monk.

Thelonious Monk's fourth album on Columbia, simply titled "Monk", is yet another album of astounding high quality. One thing about Monk-- he's famous as a songwriter who really didn't write a huge volume of material-- less than eighty compositions by Monk have been released over the span of his career. As such, albums in the '60s typically featured reinterpretations of old material and standards, which made the unnervingly high quality of his early Columbia sessions noteworthy. This album, the first by a group Monk would work with for the next four years (longtime tenor sax partner Charlie Rouse, bassist Larry Gales, and drummer Ben Riley) is no exception.

"Monk" is also noteworthy for featuring two compositions previoulsy unrecorded-- "Children's Song (That Old Man)" and "Teo". The former has a bouncy rhythm and a sing-song melody, with Rouse and Monk both drawing inspiration from the piece and digging in deep. The latter, named for producer Teo Macero, is an aggressive, almost boppish midtempo piece with a fantastic staggered melody line stated in unison by Rouse and Monk, but seems to not be particularly inspirational to the soloists. A third original ("Pannonica") is performed as well-- a lovely midtempo blues, Rouse played this one several times with Monk in digs in deeply (on both this and the alternate included).

Monk also selects four standards to work with as well, "Liza (All the Clouds'll Role Away)" is downright ecstatic and happy-- Riley is positively brilliant, overflowing with energy and pushes the piece to higher and higher heights and Monk's playing is remarkably agile and exciting. Likewise, piano feature "I Love You (Sweetheart of All My Dreams)" finds Monk in a rather inventive mood, performing in an oddly dischordant and lilting rhythmic pattern. The other two standards performed ("April in Paris" and "Just You, Just Me") are more familiar for Monk and are somewhat less inspired in their performance.

This reissue has been remastered with the same stunning sound that the rest of the recent Columbia remasters (the ones without the purplish/blue border on the CD artwork) feature-- clean and distinct, well balanced, and with all the instruments singing. The session is augmented by three bonus tracks-- alternate of "April in Paris" and "Pannonica" and a rather unique medley of standards "Just You, Just Me" and "Liza", both featured separately on the session. It sounds as if Monk felt inspired, because midway through 'Just You', he inserts the "Liza" melody. Rouse, showing just how psychic their interaction is, jumps in quickly. While the performance is exciting, it's really a shame Monk decided to split these up in the end and not develop this medley further, with a little work, this could have been fantastic.

I gave this one three stars, only because it's not quite as good as the previous three Columbia albums-- this rating is really comparative more than anything else, most artists would be lucky to put out an album this good. Recommended.