Thelonious Monk Live in New York Vol. 1&2

Thelonious Monk | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 26, 2002)
• Original Release Date: August 26, 2002
• Number of Discs: 2
• ASIN: B00006SCFJ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,240,157 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Solo Piano medley(intro by Pannonica)

2. Blue Monk

3. Rhythm-a-ning

4. Epistrophy

5. Light Blue

6. Off Minor

7. Friday the Thirteenth

8. Epistrophy (theme)

Disc: 2

1. Blue Monk

2. Light Blue

3. Rhythm-a-ning

4. Epistrophy

5. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You

6. Straight No Chaser

7. Evidence

8. Epistrophy

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

With the arrival of Thelonious Sphere Monk, modern music–let alone modern culture--simply hasn’t been the same. Recognized as one of the most inventive pianists of any musical genre, Monk achieved a startlingly original sound that even his most devoted followers have been unable to successfully imitate. His musical vision was both ahead of its time and deeply rooted in tradition, spanning the entire history of the music from the "stride" masters of James P. Johnson and Willie "the Lion" Smith to the tonal freedom and kinetics of the "avant garde." And he shares with Edward "Duke" Ellington the distinction of being one of the century’s greatest American composers. At the same time, his commitment to originality in all aspects of life–in fashion, in his creative use of language and economy of words, in his biting humor, even in the way he danced away from the piano–has led fans and detractors alike to call him "eccentric," "mad" or even "taciturn." Consequently, Monk ! has become perhaps the most talked about and least understood artist in the history of jazz.

Born on October 10, 1917, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Thelonious was only three when his parents and his two siblings, Marion and Thomas, moved to New York City. Unlike other Southern migrants who headed straight to Harlem, the Monks settled on West 63rd Street in the "San Juan Hill" neighborhood of Manhattan, near the Hudson River. His father, Thelonious, Sr., remained with the family for a few years, but health considerations forced him to return to North Carolina. During his stay, however, he often played the harmonica, Jew’s harp," and a little piano–all of which probably influenced his son’s unyielding musical interests. Young Monk turned out to be a musical prodigy in addition to an outstanding student and a fine athlete. He studied the trumpet briefly but began exploring the piano at age five. He was about twelve when Marion’s piano teacher took Thelonious on as a student. By his early teens, he was playing rent parties, sitting in on organ at Union Baptist Church! a few doors from his house, and was reputed to have won several "amateur hour" competitions at the Apollo Theater. First launched in 1933, the Lafayette Theater and the Harlem Opera House also sponsored amateur hours and it is possible that Monk participated in these as well.

Admitted to Peter Stuyvesant, one of the city’s best high schools, Monk excelled academically but an unspoken color bar kept him from joining the school band. By his sophomore year, he dropped out to pursue music and around 1935 took a job as a pianist for a traveling evangelist and faith healer. Returning after two years, he formed his own quartet and played local bars and small clubs until the spring of 1941, when drummer Kenny Clarke hired him as the house pianist at Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem.

Minton’s, legend has it, was where the "bebop revolution" began. The after-hours jam sessions at Minton’s, along with similar musical gatherings at Monroe’s Uptown House, Dan Wall’s Chili Shack, among others, attracted a new generation of musicians brimming with fresh ideas about harmony and rhythm–notably Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Mary Lou Williams, Kenny Clarke, Oscar Pettiford, Max Roach, Tadd Dameron, and Monk’s close friend and fellow pianist, Bud Powell. Monk’s harmonic innovations proved fundamental to the development of modern jazz in this period. Anointed by some critics as the "High Priest of Bebop," several of his compositions ("52nd Street Theme," "Round Midnight," "Epistrophy" [co-written with Kenny Clarke and originally titled "Fly Right" and then "Iambic Pentameter"], "I Mean You") were favorites among his contemporaries.

Yet, as much as Monk helped usher in the bebop revolution, he also charted a new course for modern music few were willing to follow. Whereas most pianists of the bebop era played sparse chords in the left hand and emphasized fast, even eighth and sixteenth notes in the right hand, Monk