The odds are (pretty) good that Thelonious would not have cared for this version. Back in the sixties, I read a Downbeat “Blindfold” column that featured Monk. It was a long-running feature that would have a prominent jazz musician listen to records without knowing who was playing and have him (or her) comment on them….
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Who the HELL does Robert Gottlieb think he is?
Robert Gottlieb is a serious high muckety-muck in the New York literary scene, formerly editor in chief, no less, of, successively, Simon & Schuster, Alfred A. Knopf, and the New Yorker. So why is he pissing on poor old Booth Tarkington? In fact, much of Bob’s take on Booth over at the New Yorker, “The…
Eric Dolphy—“Round Midnight”
No video, but plenty of Eric, which more than makes up for it. From the 1961 album, Ezz-thetic, by George Russell. After some pseudo-intense, “far out” introductory noises, Eric takes over. Russell on piano, Don Ellis, trumpet, Dave Baker, trombone, Steve Swallow, bass. and Joe Hunt, drums. Posted by cooljazzr
Dexter Gordon— “Round Midnight”
Gordon playing with the band that appeared with him in the film ’Round Midnight, featuring Bobby Hutcherson, vibes, Cedar Walton, piano, Pierre Michelot, bass, and Billy Higgins, drums. Posted by EPO JAZZFAN. Need more Monk? Of course you do, Go to Mostly Monk
Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie—“Round Midnight”
More Diz, actually playing this time, with Thelonious himself, and the rest of the "Giants of Jazz," including Sonny Stitt, sax, Kai Winding, trombone, Al McKibbon, bass, and Art Blakey, drums. The Giants were not happy campers, because only a few years before, they’d all been headliners, and now they were a nostalgia act. Remarkably,…
Carriage House Days
Just off the corner of Connecticut and N Streets in Washington, DC is a reasonably imposing red-brick urban mini-mansion, which, a small plaque informs you, once belonged to General Henry Robert, who, you probably don’t know, wrote Robert’s Rules of Order. But back in 1975 when I worked there as a file clerk, we called…
Bud Powell—“Round Midnight”
One thing I definitely lack is perfect pitch, but Bud’s piano sounds seriously out of tune in this clip, which I am nonetheless including for its historical significance. This is “obviously” a French film director’s “homage” to both Bud and Thelonious—the whole mise-en-scène reeks of France in the fifties (which is not a bad reek…
Sphericity
Thelonious Sphere Monk probably did not drink as much bourbon as William Faulkner. He probably did not shoot as much heroin as William Burroughs, or smoke as much marijuana as Norman Mailer, or get as many “vitamin shots” from feel-good Manhattan doctors as John F. Kennedy. But he had his share. He had his measure….
Alan Vanneman’s List O’ Lists
Christmas/New Year’s is the time for lists. You can’t blame journalists for wanting to have a life, can you? So they make lists, aka “phoning it in”. There are only two list-makers I like, so my list will not be long: Dan Drezner: “Your nonfiction book picks for the end of 2018 Actually, Dan makes…
Ray Brown Trio—“Blue Monk”
Ray Brown, bass, Benny Green, piano, Greg Hutchinson, drums. From 1997. Posted by Face 202. Neither the sound nor the picture is that great, but if you want to hear the greatest Monk bass solo ever, if not the greatest arco jazz bass solo ever, click below for Ray’s performance of “Round Midnight”, from the…