Saw him play when I was a kid at the Atlanta Jazz Festival in old Atlanta Stadium. He was late coming on and the last act that night. My Dad had to go to work early the next day but he let us stay to see him. Thx Dad will always remember that.
Yeah, good dictum. Playing a 'wrong' or splashed note again makes it kinda right. It's the essence of improvisation, going where the sounds take you . . .
Almost hitting the note. Playing around the expected note. Implying the note through discord. Creating a new version of the note with atonal harmonics. Textural splashes. The melody never repeats exactly the same way. Monk is the definition of avant-garde. Half pianist, half painter.
I saw him live at shelly's manne hole jazz club in hollywood in 63' or 64'. He was an hour late for his set so it was the charlie rouse trio for an hour, then while they were playing monk walks on stage and as rouse was soloing monk starts in. During one of his solos he even got up and danced around the stage! It was a beautiful evening by a master!!!
Well, he plays flat-fingered, but I don’t know how that is anything like drumming. The flat-fingered playing looks and sounds fairly awkward, but it does give him a distinctive sound when he wants to emphasize an isolated note here and there. Mostly, though, it just seems like a perversely self-imposed obstacle, sort of like Clapton never using his little finger.
Thelonius was such a jazz-tease. Just when you think you got a handle on what he’s doin, he subverts it & gives you something you didn’t even know you needed. Genius man!
Crazy intelligent. I feel like you can hear his thoughts, like he’s playing around the actual song with phrases and wit, rarely touching the actual melody.
Douglas Chappell so true! I’ve never heard that commentary before but it’s so true. So of his choices in notes and phrasing are so wacky and whimsical and yet so musical and genius. And there’s nothing you can do but smile and laugh when you’re bludgeoned with such genius. It’s like some kind of cosmic joke that someone who can play that way actually exists
I remember listening to this as a kid in the mid sixtieth, enjoying each and every note, and my mother coming barging in yelling "why don't you turn off that crap"!
+markwest1987 : In the fifties Leonard Feather in Downbeat mag. had a blindfold test where musicians commented on various records. Monk's unknown pianist was Oscar Peterson and after listening for a few bars he said " excuse me i've got to go and be sick". Monk also said that he could play like them.but they couldn't play like him. Absolutely true.
+james webb People who don't like his "poor phrasing" or his "loud dynamics" are clearly classical pianists who wouldn't know true creativity if it bit them in the ass....AND I adore classical music.
Monk epitomizes what a jazz musician is supposed to be. He had a style that was instantly identifiable, whether it’s in composition or whether it’s in his playing or whether it’s someone playing in the style of Monk. It’s a very personal approach to jazz. And I don’t think there are too many cats (past or present) who could do what Monk did. RIP to that legend 🙏🏾
Thelonious Monk takes me to another world, man-a reminder that there are levels to what we call musicianship and pushing the art forward. He was the most experimental of the bebop jazz pianists and has always been my favorite. 👌🏿
It took me a lot of years, but I finally realize that Monk is one of the greats! I have been in love with jazz since I was 12 years old (+62 years) and I’m always learning and discovering new treasures! Thank you for this visual and how important it is to see Monk in action!
I'm a pretty lame player who will listen to Monk for hours before my gig, till that energy, that energy, that energy is in my head and fingers and people approach me afterwards like I'm a flipping genius.
Remember; "greatest" is a subjective word. There has never been nor will there ever be a "greatest" anyone or anything. You could say he's your favorite pianist and they would be no argument.
That is so good! Imagine hearing this cat playing at some club and playing this. All the almost right notes just keeping you hanging on waiting for the piece to resolve but leaving you with the tension in your soul. This is genius.
Here we behold the high priest of bebop in all his glory -- the hipness, the jagged edges, the humor and the pathos, the dissonance and the ornate flourishes, the contradictions and the synthesis.
Killin it...the perfect amount of dissonance for character, emphasis and feeling. Like, any more dissonance and it would be ugly, but he dances on that line perfectly to convey a feeling that staying diatonic could never do.
Its very very heavy on the dissonance, to the point that it turns off almost everyone, but, if you realize he could play it very normal, but chooses not to, well now its punk rock.
Monk never played this twice the same way, and he recorded it at least a dozen times with different combinations of players, each with his own flavour. Yet this time, incredibly, he's no less inspired than ever.
Straight wrists ,flat Fingers , give Him the Nuance,Time and "Feel" that is somewhat Percussive in Nature .That's His take to getwhat He feels. . Real Jazz Drummers etc. know this and play w/ that mindfulness. Also, some do play Piano... Monk Had It All.
There was everyone else, and there was Monk. He heard rhythm and melody differently, I think, than others before him. We're fortunate to have the chance to experience this man's art. I believe the world is a lesser place without his presence.
I believe that this is the best performance I´ve heard from Thelonious Monk in my almost 50 year old life. I can listen to this once and once again hours long and still enjoy each chord until the end. Thank you for sharing this beautiful masterpiece.
This is huge talking about influences on heavy music , we owe almost all to jazz , not even blues , because jazz have that dreamy fast drums full of fills with that dissonant and melodic piano !!! Music is just perfect
Brilliant! Most people at the time didn't realise that he had one foot in the past and one foot in the future. He's by far the only jazzer that my old jazzer Dad and me seem to like equally.
LOVE them both!! Errol Garner was very spiritual. At 3 years old, MAESTRO Garner heard his older brother practicing piano. After he was done, he climbed up onto the piano bench and started playing music. Later on, he was in a recording studio playing. The engineer annoyed through the speaker, saying that they ran out of tape but Erroll Garner just kept on playing. The engineer asked why he kept playing. Maestro Gatner said, “I just wanted to see how it ended”
There is nothing better than the pursuit of non-representational beauty in pure music. Jazz music and Classical music offer something sublime and unique, something that only refers to itself--pure will.
It just proves that you can do your own thing without fear. As long as you are pursuing your own taste, the result will eventually be something unique and beautiful. Thus when you practice, there are no wrong notes, only notes you like and notes you don't.
If there is ever any question that Master Monk was a genius, just watch this video. There are geniuses who are mimicked - Parker, Coltrane, etc. - geniuses, undeniably - and there are geniuses who could never be mimicked. Monk is one of the latter - truly a genius, inimitable.
I totally disagree with you. Your a 'straight' player - probably a type A personality. You probably read first and had to get your head around rhythm and soul to learn even a little bit about improvisation. I've been playing professionally for over 30 years and I've lectured and listened to all the players you've listed. Your impression that Monk was 'sloppy' only reveals your short-comings in the face of truly unique genius. Some people do what they know [like you], others know what they're doing [like Monk]. Keep doing what you know, because that's all you have, dear.
+jennifer86010 Right - and that's why you're so famous and Monk is only ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL VOICES IN THE HISTORY OF THE GENRE - because, as you put it, he was sloppy and his phrasing was poor. You, ma'am are a top caliber idiot. ;)
The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there. LP Hartley. 50, 40&30. years ago people were lest controlled by the media, progressive wasn’t a dirty world and the neo cons didn’t exert their influence. We are in another era of cultural despair because the arts and music have taken third place to economics and materialism.
A performance like this by Thelonious Monk is why jazz - no matter the variety - is classical music. As Tony Bennett once said, jazz, along with baseball, will probably be considered the two biggest positive contributions to world culture in the future. Back to Monk... unconventional, but he did understand the song and lyrics, didn't he? Thanks for posting.
Kareem the great Laker's newsletter brought me here. New to Jazz as I hit my 30s in the past few years. this is dope. Idk anything technical about what it's supposed to sound like but I imagine it's this. Also- saxophonist on the side resembled Baldwin
He's actually imitating Monk's familiar style of _dancing_ during many of his live performances. But eventually, he gets so caught up in the masterly Monk performance taking place right in front of him, that he rubs his forehead and just listens! - j q t -
I sure do miss the 70s and 80s. The music today is not even the same. Sometimes I wish I could find a time machine and go back in time. Life was much easier and everyone enjoyed life! Is this your favorite song?