Epistrophy (Thelonious Monk) (LP 2285- 2299)

Thelonious Monk  Monk (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1954) *** 

Thelonious Monk  Monk's Music (CD, Riverside Records, 1957) ***** 

Thelonious Monk  Thelonious Monk Plays The Music Of Duke Ellington (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1955) ***** 

Thelonious Monk  The Unique Thelonious Monk (CD, Riverside Records, 1956) **** 

Thelonious Monk  Mulligan Meets Monk (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1957) ****

Thelonious Monk  Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1956) ****

Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk  Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk (Record and CD, Atlantic Records, 1958) ****

Thelonious Monk  Thelonious Monk Trio (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1957) ****

Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane  At Carnegie Hall (CD, Blue Note Records, recorded 1957, released 2006) *****

Thelonious Monk Alone In San Francisco (CD, Riverside Records, 1959) ***

Thelonious Monk  At The Blackhawk (CD, Riverside Records, 1960) *****

Thelonious Monk  Misterioso (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1958) *****

Thelonious Monk  5 By Monk By 5 (CD, Real Gone Jazz Records, 1959) ****

Thelonious Monk  Solo Monk (CD, CBS Records, 1965) ***

Thelonious Monk  Straight, No Chaser (CD, CBS Records, 1967) *****

Genre: Jazz 

Places I remember: The Warehouse; Kings Recording (Abu Dhabi); music store in Al Ain.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Epistrophy (Monk's Music)

Gear costume: Caravan (Plays Duke)

Active compensatory factors: Thelonious Monk. A singular genius on the piano. No one like him, ever.

The first album of his that I have is Monk - a compilation of two 10 inch albums on the Prestige label -Thelonious Monk Quintet Blows for LP and Thelonious Monk Quintet (with Frank Foster, Art Blakey).

I may be way off, but I hear quite a lot of the swing tradition in some of Monk's early albums. It's a big sound with multiple horn players and big drums.

This one has Art Blakey on drums and a trumpeter augmenting the tenor sax of Frank Foster.

Art Blakey is also on Monk's Music from 1957 (Riverside Records), along with Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane on tenor sax (plus an alto sax player). Still that multiple horn arrangement for a big sound.

So, until Coltrane leans in (Monk yells out his name!) this again sounds like a product of the swing, big band era. But Coltrane definitely changes that landscape.

It was a much smaller combo used on 1955's Thelonious Monk Plays The Music of Duke Ellington - just piano, bass, drums.

I love this album! It reeks class - Thelonious' ability is stamped all over it.

Also on the Riverside label was 1956's The Unique Thelonious Monk. It's also the simple trio format and again, like his first album on Riverside, it's a collection of cover versions. Not as consistently as brilliant as the Duke homage, but still wonderful.

Mulligan Meets Monk is from that great year for music (and other things) - 1957. Again, it's a simple trio plus sax combo. Gerry Mulligan plays baritone sax for this session. Straight, No Chaser is a particular favourite of mine.

It's a true classic as the men's contrasting styles (Mulligan's cool west coast approach and Monk's more radical approach) makes for a fizzing series of work outs on Monk's tunes (4) and Mulligan's Decidedly.

The album with Sonny Rollins is a compilation of dates during 1953 and 54 and a bit of a misnomer as Rollins only appears on three of the five tracks.

This is the jazz setting I enjoy most - the tenor sax, piano, bass, drums combo.

Drummer Art Blakey crops up a lot on these records. His Jazz Messengers were also active in 1957 and were joined by Monk on this set. 

Bill Hardman on trumpet mixes it up with Johnny Griffin on tenor sax for this album. Art also contributes a muscular drum solo.

The tape of the 1957 quartet with John Coltrane was only discovered by accident in the early 2000's. It's a stunner - a must have. 

It sounds like nothing else in either artist's canon. The CD version includes two shows - the early and evening ones, plus there is an extensive booklet that accompanies it. A great package which does the historic meeting of these two justice.

The only song that they do at both shows is Epistrophy, which is remarkable.

I'm not too much of a fan of Monk Solo. Alone in San Francisco was recorded at a hall without an audience.

There's only so much I can take of his angular approach. I am not a musician so I can't appreciate the difficulty of his playing, all my ears are reacting to are the dissonance.

Much better to my way of thinking is his live album At The Blackhawk. 

He's joined by a quartet plus two (!). In this case it's two tenor saxes (one of whom is Charlie Rouse), trumpet, bass and drums.

In this context Monk's approach is made a lot more palatable because the other players take off in their own way and Monk has to adapt his style accordingly and fit in, rather than carry everything himself as his solo piano albums do.

Misterioso is a live album from 1958 and it's brilliant!

It's a great band - Johnny Griffith on tenor sax, Roy Haynes on drums, Ahmed Abdul-Malik on bass. These guys gel incredibly well and Monk is his usual brilliant self.

5 By Monk By 5 is another fantastic studio record. My only slight niggle with it is the cornet from Thad Jones. It offsets the fluid tenor sax of Charlie Rouse but I find the tone of the cornet quite strident. Just my personal taste.

Solo Monk has a great cover. In fact most of these albums have exceptional covers. The jazz genre really lends itself to innovation and experimentation when it comes to cover art.

I noticed this cover in one of my album cover books when I was a teenager and fell in love with the idea of this album, way before I found a copy in Kings Recording. I got so many great jazz CDs from that store in Abu Dhabi.

My CD copy includes a plethora of bonus tracks. Which is nice, but not essential to my ears.

This time the solo setting is more appealing and less experimental than Alone in San Francisco. 

Monk is in playful mood at times, but it's still a challenging CD to listen to for the most part. Never-the-less, if you want a solo piano album by Thelonious Monk, I would recommend this one.

The AllMusic review of Solo Monk sums up the solo piano album well: 

The mystery and haunting angular beauty of Thelonious Monk's unadorned keyboard sides are the focus of Solo Monk. As if holding the history of jazz in his hands, Monk's solo recordings and performances from every phase of his career remain pure. 

The components of what made Monk such an uncompromising composer, arranger, and especially bandmember are evident in every note he plays.

That brings us to the final Monk album in this run down. Straight, No Chaser is also blessed with a wonderful cover.

I love this record. It's my go to Monk album if I need a shot of innovative Monk led jazz.

It's the classic line-up for the most part (there are two solo Monk pieces) - piano, tenor sax (Charlie Rouse again playing out of his skin), bass and drums.

The CD version is also the perfect length - the official album has two bonus tracks (a different take of I Didn't Know About You and a previously unissued Green Chimneys). 

Where do they all belong? A lot to digest! Monk provides a number of challenges and I find his music constantly rewarding. He will never date!