Thelonious Monk

Stav desky: NM
- jako nová, téměř nehraná

Stav obalu: M-
- bezchybný, nový nebo jako nový

Pozn.: znaménko + nebo - upřesňuje stav desky, obalu

A1  Liza (All The Clouds'll Roll Away)

    Written-By – G. Gershwin, Kahn, I. Gershwin

4:35
A2  April In Paris

    Written-By – Harburg, Duke

7:52
A3  That Old Man

    Written By – Public Domain

4:55
A4  (Just One Way To Say) I Love You

    Written-By – Berlin

6:45
B1  Just You, Just Me

    Written-By – Greer, Klages

8:42
B2  Pannonica

    Written-By – Monk

7:21
B3  Teo

    Written-By – Monk

5:24
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This is a special Monk album for me, often ignored as being nothing very special.  It still comes back to amaze me 30 years after I first heard it.  Yes it's "just another" set by the well-documented mid-'60s Thelonious Monk Quartet with Charlie Rouse, Larry Gales, and Ben Riley (which I've come to appreciate as his best working band ever).  Pretty much everything is played at the same medium tempo, and there are no freakout moments here, just the telepathic quartet cruising along with Monk's unorthodox but geometric patterns.

There is one new Monk tune here (Teo), or two if you count Monk's recasting of "This Old Man Came Rolling Home".  Perhaps what's most unusual for Monk is that the sappy old 1920s tune "I Love You" gets almost a seven minute solo Monk performance, instead of the usual 2 minute version heard in concerts during this period.  Monk's left hand is stride, and his right is full of dissonances which somehow make the "wrong" notes sound right.  No one else plays like this. 

This album could easily be dismissed as unremarkable by someone who can't catch the interplay between Monk and Rouse.  They both say precisely what they want to say.
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In 1964, Monk released another masterpiece. He shares the solos with Charlie Rouse who has a very likable sound. Listen to him in "Children's Song", a kind of tune which becomes pointless when you grow up; but Monk is that kind of magician to dress up this melody to make it a masterpiece.
Monk alone is convincing in the intro of "April in Paris" and "I Love You (Sweetheart of all my Dreams)" where he develops refined harmonies especially in the opening and the end of the track.
"Pannonica" is a very beautiful jazz ballad, one of my favourite piece in this album.
Larry Gales (Bass) and Ben Riley (Drums) never play solo but assure a perfect delightful swing tempo in all the tracks.

Highly Recommended
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While the W. Eugene Smith black and white portrait shot used for the album's cover is one of the most atmospheric images of any jazz man, the music contained within Monk is equally as cool. Thelonious Monk's quirky piano playing always allows me drift off, and his interactions with longtime sax player Charlie Rouse are always enjoyable and breezy as they intertwine with odd solos as well as playing concentric lines. With jazz albums I hardly ever care too much for song titles as I simply let the music flow from beginning to end, though with this album I found a distinct stop start mood with the cuts. Commonly covered standard, Gerswin's "Liza (All The Clouds Roll Away)" is given the Monk treatment while the band also enjoy a rumble through childhood with an interpretation of the kids favorite "Children's Song (That Old Man)", which I could have done without to be honest, but one of the albums true shinning lights is the Teo Macero dedicated piece, the aptly titled "Teo". Played at a nice bouncy tempo, Monk and Rouse play some cool lines in that idiosyncratic often off beat method, the track is probably the most distinguished on the album, and is a fine exploration of harmony by Monk in that unique style of his. While Monk may not have been treading new ground here, this self titled album, for me, is one of Thelonious's better albums from his CBS period, and while in 1965 the musical climate was changing rapidly with Miles Davis ready for the new challenge, and Albert Ayler tearing down new streets of free form sound laid down by John Coltrane, Monk is a lazy but cool piece of timeless jazz.
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This is my favorite among the albums Monk recorded for Columbia Records at the end of his recording career. It features some awesome, rather laid back and stretched out versions of well known classics from the Monk repertoaire. I have to give much of the credit for this record's greatness to Charlie Rouse on tenor sax. His performance here is particularly lyrical and sensitive. Just listen to "April in Paris", "Just you, just me", and the most beautiful version of "Pannonica" Monk ever recorded, and you'll see just what I mean!
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