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Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original Paperback – November 2, 2010

by Robin Kelley (Author)

119 customer reviews

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The first full biography of legendary jazz musician Thelonious Monk, written by a brilliant historian, with full access to the family's archives and with dozens of interviews. Now updated with an afterword for Monk’s 2017 centennial.

Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist’s struggle to “make it” without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the twentieth century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of “bebop” and establishing Monk as one of America’s greatest composers. Elegantly written and rich with humor and pathos, Thelonious Monk is the definitive work on modern jazz’s most original composer.

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Editorial Reviews

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"Monk’s story, from roots in slavery, to the Great Migration north, to the cultural explosions of the 40s, 50s, and 60s, encapsulates a vivid tableau of twentieth-century American life and music. This biography is, at its best, a fitting tribute to one of America’s most original and lasting creative geniuses."
—The Sacramento Book Review

"...extraordinary and heroically detailed... I doubt there will be a biography anytime soon that is as textured, thorough and knowing as Kelley's. The 'genius of modern music' has gotten the passionate and compassionate advocate he deserves."
—August Kleinzahler, The New York Times Book Review

"An omnibus of myth busting."
—Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

"...a massive and impressive undertaking... Thoroughly researched, meticulously footnoted, and beautifully crafted, Thelonious Monk presents the most complete, most revealing portrait ever assembled of the man known as the high priest of bebop."
—Steve Greenlee, The Boston Globe

"Every step of Monk's musical journey is teased out in meticulous detail...whether he's charting the highs or lows of Monk's emotional swings, Kelley rarely strays from his central theme of an extraordinary talent pushing against the boundaries of his art."
—Publishers Weekly

"A wealth of historical context is richly studded with details of Monk's family background and the broader world in which he lived and worked... Likely the most thorough possible illumination of the man behind the legend."
—Library Journal

"Thelonious Monk was a true original… This affectionate biography fills in the fascinating and heart-wrenching backstory of an artist the world has always longed to know better."
—The Christian Science Monitor

"Robin D. G. Kelley’s exhaustive, necessary, and as of now definitive [book] offers a Baedeker of sorts…Kelley has created a lush portrait of the private, off-camera Monk, one it would have been difficult to paint without the unprecedented access he had to the Monk family."
—David Yaffe, The Nation

"This is an authoritative tome that pulls aside, without completely lifting, the shroud of mystery that has long surrounded one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of jazz."
—Russ Musto, AllAboutJazz.com

"…as complete a picture of this complex, original and enigmatic artist as possible… this very welcome book is certain to be a go-to reference."
—Down Beat Magazine

About the Author

Robin D.G. Kelley is a professor of history and American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. From 2003-2006, he was the William B. Ransford Professor of Cultural and Historical Studies at Columbia Univeristy. From 1994-2003, he was a professor of history and Africana Studies at New York University as well the chairman of NYU's history department from 2002-2003.

One of the youngest tenured professors in a full academic discipline--at the age of 32--Kelley has spent most of his career exploring American and African-American history with a particular emphasis on African-American musical culture, including jazz and hip-hop.

Paperback: 624 pages
Publisher: Free Press; Reprint edition (November 2, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1439190461
ISBN-13: 978-1439190463
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.5 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 119 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #283,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #88 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Biographies > Jazz
- #293 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Musical Genres > Jazz
- #2276 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National

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Steve

As good a biography as it gets.

September 22, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is one of the finest biographies ever written. If you thought that you knew pretty much all you needed to know about Thelonious, get this superb book. It gives a very detailed account of his life. Most of it was pretty tragic. A collector like me thought of the excellent albums for Prestige, Riverside, Columbia, Black Lion, etc. and never really thought about what life was like for Thelonious. During nearly all of the 40s and 50s, it was a terrible struggle for him, and he had a wife and two small children to support. This book covers all of that, and also brings out what a loving family Monk and his relatives were. And, of course, the rebellious Rothschild, Pannonica, was always there for them, starting in 1954.

America sure treats its jazz musicians badly, and the racism has been appalling. As an example, Pannonica was driving Monk to a gig in D.C. in the late 50s, and Monk asked her to stop at a hotel in Delaware, to get a drink of water. Immediately, cops were called, and they searched Pannonica's Bentley without a warrant and found one spliff. They were both arrested for this heinous crime. Pannonica took the rap for it, and the court case dragged on for ages. She was nearly jailed for a year! All of this trouble arose because a black man went into a hotel lobby to ask for a drink of water.

I am not the perfect reviewer, but I hope that this has given you a taste of what this book is like. I almost felt that I was hanging out with the Monks, while I was reading it. I saw him live in 1971, when he toured with the "Giants Of Jazz". I am a saxophone player, and I wish I could have played with him. I am certain that I would have gotten on well with him.

Get the book!

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Kim Smith Benedikt

A Must Read for Jazz fans

January 29, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Thoroughly enjoying reading this meticulously researched and excellently written book about the great Monk. It's one of those rare times when after finishing a book I say to myself, "OK, now what do I do with the rest of my life? Start reading it again?"

I honestly don't even know how to summarize this efficiently. There is a wealth of information, from American history to details on what Monk wore to his concerts. I will say that if the reader is not a big jazz fan then they may grow frustrated with the amount of detail. However, I love jazz and have for many years so I didn't mind learning about all the band members, concerts and recording sessions.
My only two small issues with this book are that I can't help but wonder if Robin Kelley tries too hard to make the case that Thelonious was not as "weird" as people said he was. At times his attempts to explain Monk's behavior, or try to prove the opposite of what people said about him don't ring true to me.
However, this is a small complaint because one comes away from this book seeing Thelonious Monk for the brilliant, troubled, decent man he was. My respect and admiration for him grew immensely after reading this book.
Kelley does an excellent job relaying Monk's great sense of humor. I laughed out loud more than once over the things he did and said, and still laugh even now when I think about them.
Also, while I believe that Kelley provides the most thorough to date profile of Nellie Monk, I am left with the nagging feeling that her story was still left incomplete. Her sacrifices and struggles were big, and she probably deserves a book of her own.
Finally, I appreciate that Kelley included in this biography the mistreatment of Blacks in America. There is no way Monk's story can be told without this important aspect. I was left at times feeling absolute fury at his mistreatment by police and others, and reminded (yet again) at the injustice so many Americans experience at the hands of others no matter how brilliant and accomplished they are.

I have a lot of admiration for the amount of research Robin Kelley put into this book, it is an impressive accomplishment, and Thelonious Monk definitely deserves this much attention and respect

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Santiago Lafcadio

Read It (for) Yourself

May 30, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is the longest book I've read on a Kindle (I still prefer book books) and perhaps the most rewarding. I read it in small chunks and thereby found its length and its attention to detail (particularly recording sessions and other musical gatherings) less enervating. I was most surprised to learn how great a family man Monk had been; my image of him as a crazy man (which he was in more than one sense)--some of this based upon having seen him years ago probably at The Village Vanguard (that hat! that dancing! that disappearing from the stage for a while...) was replaced, to some extent, by my image of him as a loving son,nephew, uncle, and particularly father and husband.

I love what Kelley has to say toward the very end of the book: "If I’ve learned anything from this fourteen-year adventure, it is that duplicating Monk’s sound has never been the point. 'Play yourself!' he’d say. 'Play yourself' lay at the core of Monk’s philosophy." (In the course of the book, you learn what difficulty some great musicians had trying to learn Monk's music.)

I'm listening right now to Monk. In his purest form: the many solo recordings. In which he's truly, and alone, playing himself.

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Most recent customer reviews

Kenneth B. Liegner

American Original is an Apt Title

Scholarly but extremely readable, Robin D.G. Kelley's biography of Thelonious Monk really 'fleshes out' both the man and his music.Read more

Published 2 months ago

greg searvance

Five Stars

Great reading.

Published 3 months ago

J.L. Knorek

Heard author speak at Detroit Jazz Festival in 2017 and ...

Heard author speak at Detroit Jazz Festival in 2017 and found the incomparable depth of research and analysis of monk’s life and music fascinating. Monk was a genius.

Published 4 months ago

Lucius Thomas, Jr

Five Stars

Very well researched, informative.

Published 4 months ago

Elizabeth

As Much As You'll Ever Want To Know About Thelonius

Haven't started it yet, but there's as much (or more) than you'll ever want to know about Thelonius. -- It's a big book!

Published 5 months ago

Michael S.

Jazz lover and knowledge seekers this is an excellent book on one of the Jazz masters

Jazz lover and knowledge seekers this is an excellent book on one of the Jazz masters. He recently turned 100 and i have his music in my collection made before i was born and they...Read more

Published 6 months ago

Garry S Post

Exhaustive but fascinating biography of jazz great Thelonious Monk

Robin D. G. Kelley has written an exhaustively thorough biography of jazz great Thelonious Monk. I have always loved Monk's music so I was happy to read this well constructed...Read more

Published 9 months ago

Amazon Customer

Incredible documentary. A must read for jazz enthusiasts.

Incredible documentary. It's absolutely amazing that this black jazz musician even made it at all with the extreme racism that he had to endure including the really hard...Read more

Published 10 months ago

Presence of Absence

It doesn't get any better than this

Hands down, the most well-researched biography I've ever read. Exhaustively detailed, inclusive, and still a page turner.Read more

Published 11 months ago

Trevor Seigler

A Musical Genius

I have to admit, I have only heard of Thelonious Monk in passing, and never (so far as I know) have I heard any of his music.Read more

Published 1 year ago

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