Thelonius Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer considered one of the giants of American music. Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser" and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second-most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed over 1,000 songs while Monk wrote about 70.

His compositions and improvisations are full of dissonant harmonies and angular melodic twists, and are consistent with Monk's unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of silences and hesitations. Since this was not a style universally appreciated, poet and jazz critic Philip Larkin dismissed Monk as 'the elephant on the keyboard'.
Monk's manner was idiosyncratic. Visually, he was renowned for his distinctive style in suits, hats and sunglasses. He was also noted for the fact that at times, while the other musicians in the band continued playing, he would stop, stand up from the keyboard and dance for a few moments before returning to the piano.
He is one of five jazz musicians to have been featured on the cover of Time (the other four being Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis, and Dave Brubeck) as of 2010.


Thelonious Sphere Monk (Rocky Mount, Carolina del Nord 10 d'octubre, 1917 – Englewood, Nova Jersey 17 de febrer, 1982) fou un pianista de jazz i compositor nord-americà.

Durant els anys quaranta fou un dels elements clau en la creació del bebop, estil del qual tanmateix s'apartà per a elaborar un llenguatge d'una gran originalitat. Començà a enregistrar al final dels anys quaranta amb Art Blakey, Milt Jackson, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis entre d'altres. Tot i que autodidacte, el seu estil pianístic mostra una certa influència del de Duke Ellington i de l'stride dels anys trenta, així com una preferència pels atacs impensats de les notes, les dissonàncies i una sonoritat agressiva.
Com tants altres de la seva època, ja esmentats, els opiacis, bàsicament morfina i altres, van contribuir a la seva genialitat.

 

Discography

Blue Note Records (1948–1952)

Main article: Thelonious Monk Blue Note Sessions

• Genius of Modern Music: Volume 1 (1947 Blue Note recordings)
• Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2 (1951–1952 Blue Note recordings)

 

Prestige Records (1952–1954)

• Thelonious Monk Trio (Prestige 7027), 1952–4
• Monk (Prestige 7053) recorded 1953-4
• Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (Prestige 7075), recorded 1953-4

Riverside Records (1955–1961)

• Thelonious Monk plays the Music of Duke Ellington (1955)
• The Unique Thelonious Monk (1955)
• Brilliant Corners (1956 recording with Sonny Rollins and Clark Terry)
• Thelonious Himself (1957)
• Monk's Music (1957)
• Mulligan Meets Monk (1957, with Gerry Mulligan)
• Thelonious in Action and Misterioso (1958, live at the Five Spot with Johnny Griffin)
• The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall (1959, Charlie Rouse joined the band then)
• 5 by Monk by 5 (1959)
• Thelonious Alone in San Francisco (1959)
• Thelonious Monk at the Blackhawk (1960, with Charlie Rouse)
• Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (1957 recordings, 1961 issue) – Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007.^[28]
• Monk in France (recorded in 1961)
• Thelonious Monk in Italy (recorded 1961, released 1963)
• Thelonious Monk and the Jazz Giants (1987)
• Thelonious Monk Quartet Live at the Five Spot: Discovery! (with Coltrane recorded 1957, released in 1993 on Blue Note)
• Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (1957, released 2005 on Blue Note.)
• The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings (2006 collection of the 1957 studio recordings with Coltrane)

Columbia Records (1962–1968)

• Monk's Dream (1963)
• Criss Cross (1963)
• Monk in Tokyo (1963)
• Miles & Monk at Newport (1963, with unrelated 1958 Miles Davis performance)
• Big Band and Quartet in Concert (1963)
• It's Monk's Time (1964)
• Monk (1964)
• Solo Monk (1964)
• Live at the It Club (1964)
• Live at the Jazz Workshop (1964)
• Straight, No Chaser (1966)
• Underground (1967)
• Monk's Blues (1968)

Other labels

• Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk (Atlantic, 1958)
• Thelonious Monk Nonet Live In Paris 1967 (France Concert LP FC-113, 1967)
• The Giants of Jazz (Atlantic, 1971) with Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Al McKibbon, Sonny Stitt and Kai Winding

As sideman

With Coleman Hawkins

• Bean and the Boys (Prestige 7824) 1944

With Milt Jackson

• Wizard of the Vibes (Milt Jackson: 1948 Blue Note recordings)

With Miles Davis

• Bags' Groove (Prestige, 1954)
• Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants (Prestige, 1954)

With Sonny Rollins

• Moving Out (Prestige 7058) 1954 (on one track)
• Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1957)

With Gigi Gryce

• Nica's Tempo (Savoy, 1955)

With Clark Terry

• In Orbit (Riverside, 1958)

• Monk's Miracles (1966)
• Monk's Greatest Hits (Columbia, 1968)