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Tag: Thelonious Monk

2013

Wednesday, May 15th

tonight

I’m going, with my son Alex, to hear a quartet led by this Chicago-based saxophonist at the Hideout, a small club on the city’s northwest side.

Nick Mazzarella Trio (NM, alto saxophone; Anton Hatwich, bass; Frank Rosaly, drums), live, “Do Not Disturb,” live, Asheville, N.C., 2011

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lagniappe

musical thoughts

Make the drummer sound good.

—Thelonious Monk

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2013

Monday, April 1st

Monk

Thelonious Monk Quartet (TM [1917-1982], piano; Charlie Rouse, tenor saxophone; Larry Gales, bass; Ben Riley, drums), 1968


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lagniappe

reading table

opening day . . .
green of the field
through the ticket gates

—Randy Brooks (Baseball Haiku, Cor van den Heuvel & Nanae Tamura, eds.)

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2012

Monday, 9/3/12

 joy, n. listening to Paul Motian play Monk.

Paul Motian Trio (PM, drums; Joe Lovano, tenor saxophone; Bill Frisell, guitar), “Misterioso” (T. Monk), live, New York (Village Vanguard), 2005

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lagniappe

art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago

Jasper Johns, Corpse and Mirror II (1974-75)

*****

reading table

up to today
such a healthy singer . . .
katydid

—Kobayashi Issa, 1813 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)

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2012

Saturday, 8/18/12

favorites

How to be both solid and fluid, both fat and delicate. How to make the beat breathe. These are things that, as a child, Philly Joe Jones began to learn while dancing—tap-dancing. Just watch the way Thelonious Monk, listening to this solo, rocks back and forth (1:25-1:50), as if he’s about to break into a little dance himself.

Philly Joe Jones, live (with Thelonious Monk), 1959

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lagniappe

He breathed our history as/his walking beat . . . . The Man/So Hip/A City/Took/His/Name.—Amiri Baraka, Eulogies (1996)

(Originally posted 10/15/09.)

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2012

Monday, 7/30/12

joy, n. listening to Monk alone at the piano playing a standard.

Thelonious Monk, piano

“Don’t Blame Me” (J. McHugh & D. Fields), Denmark, 1966

*****

“Just a Gigolo” (I. Caesar & L. Casucci), 1963

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2012

Monday, 3/5/12

Has there ever been a finer hour of jazz—of music—on TV?

The Sound of Jazz (CBS), 1957*

(A couple excerpts have been posted previously—here and here—but until the other day I’d never seen the whole show.)

*With Count Basie (piano), Thelonious Monk (piano), Billie Holiday (vocals), Jimmy Rushing (vocals), Coleman Hawkins (tenor saxophone), Ben Webster (tenor saxophone), Lester Young (tenor saxophone), Gerry Mulligan (baritone saxophone), Jimmy Giuffre (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Pee Wee Ellis (clarinet), Henry “Red” Allen (trumpet), Roy Eldridge (trumpet), Vic Dickenson (trombone), Danny Barker (guitar), Freddie Green (guitar), Jim Hall (guitar), Milt Hinton (bass), Jo Jones (drums), et al.

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2011

Monday, 11/14/11

There may yet be hope for this world: this clip, on YouTube, has nearly
two million views.

Thelonious Monk Quartet (TM, piano; Charlie Rouse, tenor saxophone; Larry Gales, bass; Ben Riley, drums), “Blue Monk,” live, Norway (Oslo), 1966

More? Here. And here. And here.

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2011

Sunday, 11/6/11

two takes

“Don’t sit around in a dead church and die!”

Take 1: Brother Anthony Wynn (Oasis Ministries, Riceville, Tennessee)

*****

Take 2: Sensimo

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lagniappe

listening room: (some of) what’s playing

• Theo Parrish, Sound Sculptures, Vol. 1 (Sound Signature)

• Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Come On Back (Rounder)

• Rare & Collectible Fine Wine: 27 Soulful Ultra-Obscurities From the Cellars (WMFU-FM 2011 Premium; Mr. Fine Wine, Downtown Soulville)

• Cooking Cherries (WMFU-FM 2011 Premium; Terre T, The Cherry Blossom Clinic)

• Miles Davis, The Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions (Prestige)

• Don Pullen Plays Monk (Why Not)

• Lucky 7s, Farragut (Lakefront Digital)

• Julius Hemphill, One Atmosphere (Tzadik)

• Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet, with WLS, trumpet; Anthony Davis, piano; Malachi Favors, bass; Jack DeJohnette, drums (Tzakik)

• Goodbye, Babylon (Dust-to-Digital)

• Nikhil Banerjee, Raga Purabi Kaylan (Raga)

• Bela Bartok, String Quartets, Keller Quartet (Erato), Hungarian String Quartet (Deutsche Grammaphon), Takacs Quartet (Decca)

• Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 6, North German Radio Orchestra (Gunter Wand, conductor) (RCA Victor)

• Morton Feldman, For Bunita Marcus, Markus Hinterhauser, piano (Col Legno [import])

• Morton Feldman, Three Voices, Joan La Barbara (New Albion)

• Morton Feldman, Piano and String Quartet, Aki Takahashi, Kronos Quartet (Nonesuch)

• WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University)

—Jo Jones Centennial Festival
—Thelonious Monk birthday broadcast
—Bird Flight (Phil Schaap, jazz [Charlie Parker])
—Traditions in Swing (Phil Schaap, jazz)
—Eastern Standard Time (Carter Van Pelt, Jamaican music)
—Amazing Grace (various, gospel)
—Rag Aur Taal (various, Indian)
—Jazz Profiles (various, jazz)
—Out to Lunch (various, jazz)

• WFMU-FM

—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Sinner’s Crossroads (Kevin Nutt, gospel)
 —Give the Drummer Some (Doug Schulkind, sui generis, Web only)
—Daniel Blumin
—Cherry Blossom Clinic (Terre T, rock, etc.)
—Antique Phonograph Music Program (MAC, “78s and cylinders . . . played on actual period reproducing devices”)
—HotRod (“Shamanic vibrational love frequencies for the infinite mind,” Web only)

• WHPK-FM (broadcasting from University of Chicago)

—The Blues Excursion (Arkansas Red)

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2011

Monday, 10/10/11

Happy Birthday, Thelonious!

Thelonious Monk, composer, pianist, bandleader
October 10, 1917-February 17, 1982 

Monk’s music—its exquisite mix of logic and lyricism—sometimes makes me think of Mozart.

“’Round Midnight” (AKA “’Round About Midnight”) (T. Monk)

Take 1: Bill Evans Trio (BE, piano; Eddie Gomez, bass; Marty Morrell, drums), live, Sweden, 1970

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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Take 2: Don Pullen (piano), rec. 1984 (Don Pullen Plays Monk)

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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Take 3: Milt Jackson (vibes), live, Japan, 1990

Vodpod videos no longer available.

More Monk? Here. And here. And here. And here.

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lagniappe

musical thoughts

If it wasn’t for music, man, life wouldn’t be nothing—it’s all about music.

—Thelonious Monk

*****

Sonny Rollins talks about Monk:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

*****

radio

All Monk, all day: WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University).

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2011

Thursday, 8/25/11

Does anyone have more fun than drummers?

Sonny Rollins/Don Cherry Quartet (SR, tenor saxophone; DC, trumpet; Henry Grimes, bass; Billy Higgins, drums), “52nd Street Theme” (T. Monk), live (TV broadcast), Rome, 1962

Vodpod videos no longer available.

More Sonny Rollins? Here. And here. And here. And here. And here.

More Don Cherry? Here. And here.

More Billy Higgins? Here.

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lagniappe

You know the drum was the first instrument besides the human voice.

—Billy Higgins

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