Customer Reviews

Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the Fifties, jazz artists like John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk were among a handful of musicians who shaped the future of modern American music for several decades. The fact that they played together and that their sessions at The Five Spot Cafe were recorded is nearly a miracle, since they were under contract to different record labels. They both appear on another record ( Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants- Prestige LP 7150 ), but they don't play together! So this disc is the sole representation of their musical collaboration.

Ruby My Dear shows the young 'Trane playing mostly in the upper register of his tenor sax, with much vibrato, punctuating the sentiment in the tune. We can hear instantly the facility with which he deals with Monk's harmonic structure in this poignant ballad. Ironic piano solos are commonplace for Monk, but here he is more straighforward, with a half chorus that veers away from the polysyllabic phrasing of 'Trane's tenor. Monk's comping under Coltrane's restatement of the melody is unobtrusively perfect!

On Nutty, Monk's solo echos lines that 'Trane has drawn, showing that the conversation between sax and piano is between equals. The high point of this disc is that Monk and 'Trane clearly speak each other's musical language. Over and over, you can hear the attention they pay to the phrasing of one another, such that they complement rather than compete.

Two of the tunes add several other horns, including Coleman Hawkins, who gives forth with a taut chorus on Off Minor. The drummer here is Art Blakey, whose touch is very different from Shadow Wilson, more cymbal oriented, except for the characteristic press rolls that add exclamation points to solos.

The disc ends with an unaccompanied piano solo -- Functional -- by Monk. It's very sad that there isn't a cellar in Lower Manhattan with a box of tape from other Five Spot session waiting to be discovered. This is the sort of music I never tire of hearing.

For five months in 1957 at the New York Five Spot Cafe, the genius Thelonious Monk Quartet included avante-garde tenor saxophone player John Coltrane. Unfortunately, only three songs on this CD feature the Quartet. Personally, I would have much loved to have heard more.
"Ruby My Dear" is a classic Monk tune where Coltrane plays an amazing saxophone on both the melody and on his solo. The genius is Monk's soloing is present in this song, as Monk simply reharmonizes the melody, adding licks with his clumsy style of playing that fits in so perfectly with his melodies.
"Trinkle Tinkle" is my favorite performance on this album, featuring a killer melody and rivetting solos from both Coltrane and Monk. But, a standout here is bassist Wilbur Ware's solo. It is a truly amazing bass solo. When monk plays the bridge during the solo, Ware makes that work with his own solo, which is great musicianship.
"Off Minor" is not the Quartet playing; it is Monk, Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, and other horn players. This song has a truly great melody with some solos that are great, but not standouts.
"Nutty" once again features the Quartet. The melody is one of my favorites by Monk because of its playful nature. It does not sound like a typical Monk piece... I hear more Ellington in the melody than Monk. The soloing is also awesome on this song.
"Epistrophy" features the same band as "Off Minor", but this is my favorite version of "Epistrophy" and it features a killer solo from Coltrane.
The final track is obviously a filler with its 9 and a half minutes of Monk playing piano solo on one of his songs called "Functional". The melody and the soloing are both impressive on this song, but it's obvious it was just added becasue they didn't have a lot of material to really make an album of just Monk/Coltrane.

I recommend this album to all jazz fans. I find it so cool when jazz geniuses play together. Ella and Louis, Ellington and Coltrane, Bird and Diz, just to name a few. This is your chance to experience Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, two people who were not widely known as geniuses in 1957, but would emerge to be some of the most legendary jazzmen ever. There may only be 3 songs where the Thelonious Monk Quartet features Coltrane on tenor sax, but in them is so much creativity and superb musicianship.

Okay, let's get started. This album is one of my very favorite jazz discs that I have laid ears upon. The disc starts out with "Ruby, My Dear," a very mellow ballad, done here wonderfully. The coyness of this track does not hint at what is to come.

The Monk standard "Trinkle, Tinkle" reminds a fellow of a lilting jaunt. A lilting jaunt through where, you ask? You decide, but I get the feeling Monk had some sort of chase scene in mind. And Trane pulls off a killer solo as well. I dig it.

"Off Minor" has an almost humorous bounce to it, envigorating. Makes me laugh, and no one says a word.

The next track, "Nutty" is just that. The tune's expositionary sequence is very carefree in sound, gliding one into a mellow groove. And then along came Trane. Let's just say he adds a frenetic energy to the track with his solo. Hence the title, I suppose.

"Epistrophy." My fav Monk tune. And here, he just happens to be jammin' with Coltrane. Wow. I love this one because it is so richly mysterious. Almost haunting. On Trane's solo, the tension created by the space in between his bursts of chords gives this song another dimension of sound, more extreme than Monk's other versions.

Closing the disk is a 9 and a half minute piano solo by Monk titled "Functional." Thinly bluesy in nature, this tune is as beautiful and fun as any solo I have heard on piano. I am not sure how many hands Monk really has. But one thing for sure, we got two genius minds on the same disc.

In 1957, eccentric piano genius Thelonious Monk was on the verge of breaking into the jazz mainstream. He formed a quartet featuring tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, another musician who was no stranger to controversy. Their legendary collaboration (and gigs at the Five Spot Cafe) only lasted a few months, but the few recordings that it produced are classic. This studio CD (recently remastered in clear 20-bit sound) contains three great tunes by the Monk Quartet, two "leftovers" from the octet session (with Art Blakey and Coleman Hawkins) that produced _Monk's Music_, and a solo piano feature. All the tunes mix Monkish angularity with catchy melodies as only Monk could write them. It's hard to pick a favorite on an album this good, but if I have to: "Trinkle, Tinkle" really stands out for both Monk and Trane's playing (you can hear some of the earliest traces of his "sheets of sound") and Monk's unaccompanied playing on "Functional" is outstanding. But that's not to say that the tender playing on "Ruby, My Dear", or the octet versions of "Epistrophy" and "Off Minor" aren't fantastic in their own right. If you like this album, you must pick up the lower-fidelity recording of the band live at the Five Spot, as well as the aforementioned _Monk's Music_ album.

"Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane" is a somewhat odd mixture of tracks from different Thelonious Monk recording sessions. Nonetheless, it is an essential purchase for Monk/Trane-a-philes due to the absolute brilliance of the 3 of its 6 tracks which feature the legendary Thelonious Monk/John Coltrane Quartet.

Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane are two of the most seminal figures in the history of jazz. Yet in spite of the acknowledged significance of their brief tenure together in a working band in 1957, until fairly recently there was a dearth of recorded material documenting that union. Up to the point of the release of "Discovery!- Live at the Five Spot" in 1993 (more on that later), the "Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane" album contained the only recorded evidence of the Monk quartet with Coltrane. The reputation of this album is mostly based on that fact.

There are 3 golden performances on this album by the Monk-Trane quartet and they are all absolutely indispensable: "Ruby,My Dear", "Trinkle, Tinkle", and "Nutty". It is impossible to say enough good things about these tracks and they are the primary reason to obtain this album.

Contrary to several reviews here at Amazon, the three Monk-Trane quartet tracks on this album were not recorded live at the Five Spot. They were recorded at Reeves Sound Studios in NYC in July of 1957. The only known recorded evidence of the Monk-Trane quartet live at the Five Spot is on the "Discovery! Live at the Five Spot" album.

Because, unfortunately, there were only 3 tracks from the July, 1957 studio session - the rest of this album had to be filled out. The "filler" consists of two alternate tracks from the "Monk's Music" septet sessions (relatively brief re-workings of "Off Minor" and "Epistrophy") and one solo Monk track (a long alternate of "Functional" from the "Monk Himself" sessions - solo Monk is always a welcome addition). While these three tracks are all quite good, they just don't measure up to the brilliance of the quartet material.

With the release of the newly discovered Monk/Trane Carnegie Hall Concert there are now 3 albums/cds featuring the Monk/Trane quartet:

1) "Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane" - the 3 brilliant studio tracks - all recorded in excellent sound quality;

2) "Discovery! Live at the Five Spot" - The only known live recording of the Monk/Trane Quartet performing at their legendary Five Spot engagement in NYC. This recording features absolutely dreadful sound quality as it was recorded non-professionally by Trane's wife at the time (the namesake of "Naima");

3) "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall" - This is it - the one to get. It is rare that a "newly discovered" recording can instantly obtain status as one of the greatest jazz recordings ever made - but that is exactly what has happened with this VOA recording that was discovered sitting on the shelf and was subsequently released by Blue Note in 2005 with a buzz that reached beyond the insular world of jazz. This is the missing link - a full live concert of the Monk/Trane Quartet at the top of their game and recorded in excellent sound quality.


In summary, if you want to check out Monk/Trane Quartet at their best, this album ("Thelonious Monk with John Colrane" - with its 3 studio tracks) and the Carnegie Hall concert are the purchases to make. The release of the Carnegie Hall concert has made the "Discovery! Live at the Five Spot" with it's dreadful sound quality something for completists and absolute Monk/Trane fanatics only (ok - yeah, I own it).

Together, the 3 studio tracks on this album and the Carnegie Hall concert represent not only the best of the Monk/Trane quartet but some of the most important recorded music in the history of jazz - absolutely indispensable.

One of the most historically important studio sessions of 1950s Thelonious Monk, and one that will no doubt be receiving excessive attention due to the recent issue of a live recording, "Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane" contains the only studio recordings the famed '57 Monk Quartet with John Coltrane made (Monk on piano, Trane on tenor sax, Wilbur Ware on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums). The recording consisted only of three pieces-- "Ruby, My Dear", "Trinkle, Tinkle" and "Nutty"-- all Monk originals and stretching about 18 minutes long, so the issue is augmented by a pair of alternates from the "Monk's Music" sessions and a solo piano piece from the "Thelonious Himself" sessions.

But to start, the material that everyone gets this for-- the quartet pieces. Really, there's just not enough good things to say about the two of them. Trane digs deep on "Ruby, My Dear", no doubt at least partially with Coleman Hawkins' quartet rendition in his head (it was recorded a month earlier as part of the "Monk's Music" session), he blows with a sensitivity and softness of tone that is rather rare in Coltrane's playing, and he out-Hawks Hawk. "Trinkle, Tinkle" is fractured theme where Coltrane strolls over Ware and Wilson, soloing fiercely while Monk listens on without playing (both Monk and Ware also take fantastic solos, but Trane's is the highlight). "Nutty" is an exciting midtempo piece with Monk positively exploratory in and around Coltrane's theme statement. It's curious that he chooses to lay out and let Coltrane stroll, but the young tenor's performance is jarringly brilliant, there's little question in the wisdom of doing it.

The pieces from the "Monk's Music" session fare remarkably well, even if they are dramatically opposed to the sound of the rest of the record-- Monk, Coltrane and Ware all perform, along with three other horns (trumpeter Ray Copeland, altoist Gigi Gryce and tenor legend Coleman Hawkins) and drummer Art Blakey. The result is a much bigger sound-- "Off Minor" features an almost little-big-band sound to it, with Copeland in opposition to the reeds and is comparable to the issued take, but it's "Epistrophy" that is the most intriguing-- it received a nearly eleven minute workout on "Monk' Muisc", here it stretches just over three minutes-- more importantly is that it captures an odd level of excitement and energy-- opening with a cadence from Blakey before settling into a horn statement and blowing wide open into a deep swinging theme statements with brief solos by Trane and Copeland.

The closing track is a piano solo titled "Functional"-- a different piece from the 'other' track titled "Functional" (on "Thelonious Himself"). This particular piece is a bluesy and moody extended piano solo betraying (as many of Monk's solos do) his love of stride music. It's a nice piece and a great way to cool off after the hot take of "Epistrophy".

Like all the 20-bit remastered recordings, the sound on this particular issue is unnervingly superb, augmenting the listening experience without analog hiss, etc. getting in the way. Make sure you get the remastered release-- its night and day difference!

There are better Monk recordings out there, but there's not a whole bunch of them. Highly recommended.

this has got to be my favorite jazz recording. I'm not even going to try to describe it, you need to hear it for yourself but I would like to mention another disc that complements this one very well. It's called 'Live at the Five Spot Discovery!', and it's on blue note. It was recorded by Coltrane's wife late in the summer of 57, and features excellent live versions of trinkle tinkle and epistrophy as well as others. The sound quality is not as good as this disc, but listening to the two one after the other can be very rewarding. I've recommended 'Monk with Trane' to several people who haven't experienced much jazz, and while Monk can be rough starting point for a jazz collection, I think the material is good enough that it will win over anyone even slightly inclined to appreciate jazz if given a chance.

I was a little dissapointed with this one, it should have a label saying: historic 3 tracks, the other tracks are just fillers. The 3 tracks of Trane and Monk are amongst the best I have ever heard in jazz, electryfing. But theres also two outtakes from the Monks music album that you dont need if you already own that album and that do not show the chemistry between Trane and Monk. And then there is a track with Monk playing by himslef. I cannot help but feeling a litlle .... off, sorry.

All compositions were written by Thelonious Monk. If you are at all familiar with Monk, you will not be disappointed. There is an easy familiarity to some of the songs, and that wonderful twisted oddness that is Thelonious Monk in some songs. John Coltrane plays on five of the six cuts with a trio or quartet. Track #6 is Monk solo on the piano. Although it is approx. 38 minutes, with only one cut in stereo, it is a good addition to the collections of those who want some more Monk or Coltrane.

This album has been recognized as one of those "must have" jazz records--as it should be. But it isn't exactly what the album title promises. Yes, Coltrane and Monk are here, but this curious little collection showcases the short-lived Thelonius Monk quartet featuring John Coltrane in a few tracks and then pads out the remainder with miscellaneous material. The album was originally issued on Jazzland, a Riverside subsidary, and the Monk/Trane quartet tracks were augmented by alternate takes from a session that produced the Riverside LP "Monk's Music" ("Off Minor" and "Epistrophy') and another alternate take from "Thelonius Himself" ("Functional" a Monk solo). Sadly, only five of the six tracks have Coltrane. When you hear this record, you've got to remember that Coltrane was not yet considered the great jazz musician he is known to be. Nor had Monk fully achieved his deserved apotheosis. Consequently, Monk and Trane weren't recorded when they played together as they should have been, and this album was almost an afterthought. Perhaps Riverside issued the Jazzland record because there wasn't enough material for a whole LP or perhaps it was a marketing ploy that presented the pairing on the budget label as sort of quirky stuff that some might like to hear. Whatever the case, the three quartet tracks are particularly important. These show kindred voices, magnificent interplay between Monk and Coltrane, and you hear Coltrane evolving his tenor style to help define classic Monk. Two jazz monsters emerging. The main sessions presented on "Monk's Music" complete the picture.