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1. Misterioso thelonious monk professional#
2. Misterioso thelonious monk series#
3. Misterioso thelonious monk free#

It was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to and remains strong in my memory to this day. Stan Tracey, for whom Monk had been a major musical inspiration, responded to the occasion by playing two sets exclusively consisting of tunes by his hero. As we took our seats in the Newcastle Playhouse for the gig, an announcement was made that Thelonious Monk had died. It was during the Newcastle Jazz Festival, on the day when the great British jazz pianist Stan Tracey was due to give a concert there. I remember very well the day he died, in February 1982. Although attempts were made to treat this, he stopped playing in the 1970s and lived out the rest of his life as a virtual recluse. I think it was generally assumed that he had a drugs problem, which he may well have had, but it was eventually realised that he was suffering from a serious mental illness. In my opinion his music also deteriorated from the early sixties onwards. In later life his behaviour became disturbingly erratic he would sometimes stand up in the middle of a performance and go wandering around the stage. He had many admirers, but nobody could play like him. But, above all, when you hear Monk play the piano, you know immediately who it is. His use of syncopation is quite different from the usual bebop musicians and it seems, to me anyway, to echo the rhythms of everyday speech. To me his solos sound like someone talking directly at you in a strange and wonderful language that you don’t quite understand but which sounds beautiful anyway. Monk’s piano style is hard to describe – his wife Nellie once described it as “Melodious Thunk” – but I’ve always loved his music. But the “High Priest” tag owed at least something to his eccentric personality: he hardly ever spoke and, aside from his music, he seemed to communicate with the outside world largely through his choice of hat. I’ve always thought the archetypal bop pianist was Bud Powell whose style was totally different to Monk’s. Actually, I don’t think Monk ever really played bebop at all.

Monk was often called “The High Priest of Bop” and regarded as one of the leaders of the post-war bebop revolution in Jazz alongside Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. He broke many rules, especially in the way he used his fingers – keeping them straight as he played to get a uniquely percussive sound from the instrument, well matched, on the track I’ve posted below, to the vibraphone of Milt Jackson. His self-taught style of piano-playing was unlike that of anyone who came before or after him, including those followers who tried to copy him. Thelonious Monk was a remarkable musician. Note: “Just a Gigolo” is an unaccompanied piano performance.A couple of days ago I posted a piece of music by Eric Dolphy that was inspired by Thelonious Monk, so today I thought I’d post something by Monk himself together with my own appreciation of his music. BONUS TRACK:: From the same performance, but not included on the original LP. Live at the Five Spot, New York, August 7, 1958. However, many other previous live recordings made under non-professional conditions have surfaced since.

Misterioso thelonious monk professional#

These were Monk’s fi rst issued live recordings (that is, taped live, but recorded with professional equipment). Monk, like Charlie Parker and many others, had been a victim of the system, and thus he was unable to play New York clubs for a time (although he could play theatres such as Carnegie Hall and other places that didn’t sell alcohol). There was by that time a law that prohibited a musician convicted for drugs in New York to work in any of the city’s clubs for a specifi c duration of time due to the loss of his “cabaret card”. Monk hadn’t been working a lot prior to these performances. The group was recorded there and the resulting music was issued on two albums: In Action and the present Misterioso. Just after John Coltrane left him and before the arrival of Charlie Rouse, Thelonious Monk formed a quartet with Johnny Griffi n, which played at the Five Spot Café, in New York, during 1958.

Misterioso thelonious monk series#

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Misterioso thelonious monk free#