No video, but the music is what counts. The first version features the Ellington band playing an arrangement by Billy Strayhorn, from the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, with Monk himself at the piano. The second, more interesting, from my perspective, is a “private collection” recording from 1962. The second arrangement, which may or may not…
Tag: Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk—“I Mean You”
Monk in Paris in 1969 with Charlie Rouse on sax, Austin Wright on drums, and Nate Hygelund on bass. Monk composed the tune jointly with Coleman Hawkins, who gave Monk his first real job. It was first recorded, by Hawkins, in 1946. Posted by “Thelonious Monk”
Thelonious Monk—“Bright Mississippi”
“Bright Mississippi” is “really” a reworking of the famous old tune, “Sweet Georgia Brown”. Well, Georgia never sounded better. Thelonious with Charlie Rouse on sax, John Ore, bass, and Frankie Dunlop, drums. Bruxelles, 1963. Posted by Mr. Wolf
They Got Rhythm: How George Gershwin begot Lester Young, Charlie Parker, and Thelonious Monk
Back in 1930, George Gershwin wrote a tune, “I Got Rhythm”, whose underlying chord structure proved a god-send to jazz musicians for decades to come. “Rhythm Changes” served as the basis for dozens of jazz tunes, which served, in turn, for some of the greatest performances in jazz. We’ll start off with the original, served…
Monday is Monk’s Day, courtesy of Stéphane Tsapis
And every other day of the week too, thanks to French pianist and composer Stéphane Tsapis, but Mondays are now special because Stéphane is posting videos featuring himself and another performer giving us a new version of some of Monk’s classic tunes. The first installment features violinist Mathias Lévy, performing “Ask Me Now”, “Let’s Cool…
26 Ways of Listening to Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight”
At least 26, starting off with Miles Davis, back in 1967, with earlier dates as far back as 1948, and as recently as last year, including several with Monk himself, along with vocals by Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn, and, well, a host of others, pulled together rather randomly by me over the past six…
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,…
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…
“Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” played twice
Back in the day, Jerome Kern provided the score for what was once the most famous musical on Broadway, Showboat. He did plenty of other excellent shows, including Roberta, made into a film now (mostly) famous for being the third, and one of the best, of the eight films that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers…
“Blue Monk”
The man himself, in Scandinavia in 1966, with Charlie Rouse on sax, Larry Gales on bass, and Ben Riley on drums. Posted (with misleading information) by Solo musica. I recently published a long (or longish) take on Monk here. For tons o’ Monk (and who could ask for anything more?), try Mostly Monk.