Monk's Blues

Thelonious Monk | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 25, 1994)
• Original Release Date: 1969
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000292M
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,092 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Selling out? The most despised Monk album ever, December 5, 2007

By 

ccex (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monk's Blues (Audio CD)

I've been listening to this for the past 30 years, during which Thelonious Monk has always been my favorite pianist and composer. It is very far from my favorite Monk albums, but not as horrid as the jazz snobs may tell you it is. By 1968 Thelonious Monk was no longer trendy, and jazz was proclaimed dead, or at least smelling funny. Columbia Records had Monk under contract and hoped for something other than the typical brilliance the Monk quartet with Charlie Rouse, Ben Riley, and Larry Gales had been performing live for years. Monk's style hadn't changed much for 20 years. Some A&R man thought that it would be interesting to put some thelonious assaults at the keyboard in front of a Hollywood studio big band arranged by Oliver Nelson. For some strange reason, Monk agreed to do this, even allowing the inclusion of two compositions by producer Teo Macero.

Monk never made a record like this before or since. For most listeners, this is an Oliver Nelson period piece, like Jimmy Smith's "Monster" from 2 years before where someone convinced another keyboard wizard to play "The Theme from the Munsters" and the latest James Bond movie theme songs. Nelson's simplified arrangement of "Brilliant Corners" overlooks the way Monk composed it, perhaps since it's such a tricky tune, which couldn't be mastered by a large band with limited rehearsal time. Macero's "Just a Glance at Love" is embarrassing, and I think Monk obliged his boss just as he must have obliged drunks who requested "Melancholy Baby" on paid gigs in his earlier years.

Once Columbia realized that the stubborn individualist Monk acquiesced to this, they tried to get him to make an album of Beatles tunes. They actually sent someone to Monk's apartment to play him the songs, assuming that Monk couldn't read music or figure out the songs his son had been listening to. Monk promptly cancelled his Columbia contract.

Did Monk sell out with this one? I'd say no. His playing is up to his usual standards, if you can ignore the crass background. He seems to have fun with his runs on "Blue Monk" and even "Consecutive Seconds" where he is telling his producer that he's still the onliest despite the rock beat and the commercial band behind him. Alter-ego Charlie Rouse is also true to himself despite the environment. The album ends with my favorite version of "Round Midnight", included here because Columbia realized they had never recorded a solo piano version of this famous composition, and Monk gave it his best. I'd surmise that Monk's band appeared on this album out of obligation, and not because they needed to cash in or try to appeal to a new audience.

Thelonious Monk never made a bad record. If you want a "sellout" by a jazz artist in need of money or looking to find a larger audience, listen to Chet Baker's "Mariachi Brass", "The Return of Bud Powell" (Roulette), Freddie Hubbard's "Windjammer", or Pharoah Sanders' "Love Will Find A Way". "Monk's Blues" gets the worst reviews of any of Monk's albums, but has some solid playing and provides the only glimpse of how Thelonious dealt with the squares who tried profit by making him even hipper. Monk had the last laugh on this, and I enjoy laughing with him almost 40 years later.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not his best but it went with the times, December 8, 2002

By 

M. Salmestrelli "larddiet" (Seaside park, Nj) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Monk's Blues (Audio CD)

I acquired the rather small Columbia Years box set of Monks work where they respond to the criticism of the album. At the time his Columbia output was being greeted by critics and fans alike for being too much of the same old thing. He debuted a few new tracks but never broke the same ground using new exciting musicians in his studio band, so in response to this he went to California and had Oliver Nelson set up a big band for him to play with. His live big band albums are truely classic and this album simply cant match the greatness of those two live masterpieces("At Town Hall" and "Big Bandl, Quartet Live"). This album was the last of his Columbia albums and it was attacked by everyone the minute it hit the shelves.
I can say I do enjoy this record. Even though it isnt up to the standard of the live albums he did in this vain it is still very good. I do recommend this album if you are a fan of big bands and Oliver Nelson and not if you are seasoned veteran of Monks music if you are willing to accept it as a change of pace and that it is and with its flaws it still can stand on its own two feet.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't be discouraged so fast, December 29, 2004

By 

J. Anderson "freak" (Lincoln, NE United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Monk's Blues (Audio CD)

This was the first Monk album I ever bought, and while it might not be as finger-snappingly Hep as some of his work in more typical, smaller groups, it's still a slamming set of songs, and an album that I play quite often, even after owning it for about a decade. And while the whole thing is quite nice, I have to agree with the earlier reviewer about the solo rendition of 'Round About Midnight at the end...it is well worth the price of the CD for this track alone. It's Monk, you know you want it, don't be scared.