I was fortunate to have heard and “met” Mr. Monk in the early 1970’s during his appearance at the Village Vanguard. He was accompanied by a trio including a tenor a saxophone but Mr. Monk’s participation was very minimal. During a break I used a men’s room. There was no one else inside and in walked Mr. Monk. I seized the opportunity and addressed him in a brash manner using his first name with something like “How about ‘Round Midnight?” Mr. Monk looked at me with very moist eyes that I have a clear memory of and did not say anything. I was thrilled however that when his quartet returned and after another tune he began my request. These are the most memorable jazz minutes.
Monk played this tune thousands of times and Im sure he probably never played it the same way twice.Ive heard many versions . Sometimes solo and sometimes with an ensemble but always to his audience and under great duress due to his mental health problems. The notion that he was probably on psychotropics when he played this makes it all the more amazing. This man played for little money most of his career so clearly he loved what he did for the current and future generations.
People need to get away from the tyranny of 'perfectionism', and learn to appreciate unique artistic expression such as this. There is nobody who will ever be able to play piano in this manner, anywhere in the world. Monk was his own man, fully and completely. Respect.
There is only one category left beyond the best. As the late fight manager trainer Angelo Dundee once said: “ this is a whole other ballgame “ Thelonius Monk was that other ballgame.
Wow, this guy is lifting the piano (1:04) without the slightest hint of a wink not to speak of playing a wrong note. That, dear friends, is true mastery. Body and soul!
Ah. Very wise. Knows how to listen. I've seen the unknowing say things like "Oh that guy is making mistakes ha ha!" Sad to be that ignorant but oh well. Discernment is hard won and doesn't go to everyone. Cheers.
"Thelonious Monk is an example of an exceptionally uncorrupted creative talent. He has accepted the challenges that one must accept to forge a music utilizing the jazz process. Because he lacks, perhaps fortunately, exposure to the Western classical music tradition or, for that matter, comprehensive exposure to any music other than jazz and American popular music, his reflections of formal superficialities and their replacement with fundamental structure has resulted in a unique and astoundingly pure music. Make no mistake. This man knows exactly what he is doing in a theoretical way - organized, more than likely, in a personal terminology, but strongly organized nevertheless. We can be further grateful to him for combining aptitude, insight, drive, compassion, fantasy, and whatever else makes the "total" artist, and we should also be grateful for such direct speech in an age of insurmountable conformist pressures. In a recent 'Down Beat' Blindfold Test, I was played a Thelonious Monk track. I might repeat here part of my reaction: Monk approaches the piano and, I should add right now, music as well, from an "angle" that, although unprecedented, is just the right "angle" for him. Perhaps this is the major reason for my feeling the same respect and admiration for his work that I do for Erroll Garner's, though they might seem poles apart to the casual listener. Each seems to me as great as any man can be great if he works true to his talents, neither over nor underestimating them and, most important, functions within his limitations. You will experience an absolutely inimitable performance when you listen to this recording and bless the beauty of the fact that there just ain't no other like it. To exemplify this is a noble accomplishment and testimony to an exceptional, worthwhile life." -- BILL EVANS
Unfortunately Bill is completely wrong that Monk was illiterate of Western classical music, as his first real piano teacher was actually a classical violinist who taught Monk pieces by Mozart, Lizst, Beethoven etc...
Yes that is true. His early life was extensively researched in the book "Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original" by Robin DG Kelley. This biography states that he listened to his sister practicing classical piano music from an early age. He also once said "I learned how to read before I took lessons". It is said that he started to play piano when he was 6 years old. He was an autodidact until the age of 11. After that he studied with his first real piano teacher Simon Wolf. "The kinds of exercises he gave Thelonious came out of the books of Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninoff. These were the composers Monk was drawn to; Bach, Beethoven to a lesser degree." Monk knew classical music and he had listened to it. But it's important to see, that although he played it to some degree, he was a church organist and folk song player, not a classical musician. All his following teachers were stride pianists and jazz players. He probably never had the time to really dig into classical like Bill Evans did. I mean, Bills words are to be taken relative to the level those guys achieved, and relative to Bills own perspective on music as a capable classical pianist.
Poster/producer: Thank you. Hard to find and unappreciated solo. This guy started something very big. He made a paragraph out of two words! He used rests like most use multiple measures. Such a talent. Alex above got it so right!
7 лет назад
Beautiful harmonics. Monk never wasted a note. Never said more than needed saying. That was simply amazing playing.
Round Midnight is Thelonious Monk's most famous composition. Written in the key of Eb Minor, the 6 flats in the key signature take some getting used to but the tune contains lots of interesting chord changes and harmonic movements. 3:46 [PianoGroove]
“Round Midnight” is Thelonious Monk’s best-known jazz composition and carries the grand distinction of being the most-recorded jazz standard written by any jazz musician. 5:35 [Jazz Standards]
Mr. Monk is Jimmy Hendrix of piano jazz...Such unfinished beauty , different rhythmic dynamic, beautifully dissonance , each tone hits you right in the heart..The greatest ever
I know you mean well, but Hendrix lived his entire life within Monk's - If anything, Hendrix was the Monk of guitar ; But factually, and stylistically-> they were just themselves
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American composer and jazz pianist who contributed to the cool jazz, hard bop, and bebop styles of music. He was a classically trained pianist. 6:09 [jazz org blog; MasterClass]
@ALexKaffee You are so right...this is quite possibly the most beautiful piece of music I've ever heard in my life.It has the capacity to bring you to tears or just smile.
There is nothing to say...The music speaks for itself...We are so busy trying to see and hear where Monk is going nobody wants to stop to write a comment...
The first time I heard Monk, I thought it was a joke, like a drummer playing the piano without having any class before, but knowing the notes. Monk had the most weird technique on the history of the piano. At first sight, one could swear he´s anything, but a pianist. It´s astonishing even how he can play this way without so many wrong notes. Look that his fingers are always on the horizontal plane, contrary to all piano teaching so far. But, obviously he was a genius in himself and he did many good compositions, like this classic one. We can´t compare touches, but listen to Monk play, and listen to Bill Evans...two different schools, two diferent touches, but both genius.
Nice commentary there, very well said. I was baffled by Monk at first, but I figured that there must be a reason for his reputation, so I kept listening from time to time. I'm pretty sure that Monk knew the 'right' way to play, and fashioned his awkward approach deliberately, to achieve the sound he wanted. Toleration of wrong notes was part of his aesthetic; toleration of rhythmic imprecision, not so much! He said that one didn't have to be a percussionist to play in time, which is true in classical music as well. If one listens to enough of his work, one finds that he had excellent facility, at least in the right hand. But he wasn't much interested in display, rather in form, color, mood, and of course rhythm. As an ensemble player and a composer of minimalist tendencies, I guess he didn't need to sound like a one-man orchestra either. When Waller, Hines, Wilson, Tatum, Garner, or Peterson played, there was an awful lot more going on. They also had bigger paws, exceptional paws. There is one solo piece of his, 'Ruby, My Dear', where he uses richer textures reminiscent of a big band. But the tone is hard and percussive, the impression cold and rigid. It's pretty weird IMO, but obviously he did what he wanted.
Thelonius Sphere Monk, one of the true giants of jazz and of 20th century popular music. That is a great performance of a great tune. Monk is one of just a handful of artists who always makes me think," I wonder what he thought about as he was playing that?" Always unique and fresh, always coming up with new ideas in a classic piece of material he's played countless times.For me , the most compelling and fascinating figure in the history of jazz.
I simply can stop to listen a this every day , so deep and moving what an outstanding musician , I truly enjoy listen him on this MONO version ❤ RIP legend Icon of all jazz musicians
Amazing, brilliant, incredible preternatural and out of this world: Thelonious Monk par excellence! Bebop Jazz to the utmost humanly impossible chord development and combination only Monk can be credited for! Round Midnight represents the excellence of Wolfgang Amadeous Mozart's Requiem or Ludwig Van Beethoven's Appassionata Piano Sonata in Jazz Bebop version...
ok, I listened to 20 versions, this is my personal favourite - followed by Davis, Jarrett, Rollins, Gillespie, Chet Baker, Bill Evans - THANK YOU youtube!
Monk was a master. Don't be fooled, this man could play, and play with perfect precision. His time was unlike anything you will ever hear. I think the only person who I could listen to as much solo piano is Tatum. 3am and still sipping on a whiskey listening to Monk...life is good. BTW I play piano but am about 1/1000 of the player Monk is and have been playing for over 20 years.
Your honesty is WONDERFUL,,,I deeply related to your words "1/000 of the player Monk is [etc] I'm a piano player who gave up when I came to the same conclusion as did you! Thank you for your comment.
His imagination was incredible. Don't want to start a "youtube war" but I defy you to upload anything you play that comes close to Monk's solo piano performances. I will be waiting.
Didn't give up. I still love playing. Just so much respect for this man. Even Bud Powell, who was a close friend and possibly one of the most influential pianists, was in awe of Monk.
Exactly! All of my piano instructors explained the importance of NOT playing with "flat" fingers. Art was creative melodically and digitally ( God he was quick digitally ). But, like Oscar Peterson stated Thelonious was more of a songwriter than a "digital" pianist. This music video of "'Round Midnight " is sensational!
Just on those days when you wrote your note one pianist understood and plays his interpretation on The Lincoln Center NY invited by Wynton Marsalis. I am pretty sure that dear Thelonious Monk hum in his grave "I live again" - when Joey Alexander plays Round Midnight
The tern "genius" is the most overused word in the English language. Thelonius Monk is one of the few who really deserved to be called a musical genius.
Hes so good,that its hard to grasp at first,he has a deep understanding of what hes doing,and why its being done.A true Master,The best improvising,Ive ever heard.
Wonderful music. It evokes a spacious feeling. I imagine now a sphere inside which innumerable processes work together in a unity that unpredictably ruptures into tension before resolving again. It is alive by being this churning uncertainty.
PolarChimes One of the prettiest jazz pieces ever written. Monk was an incredible composer because he understood harmony, counterpoint, and melody line better than most.
I have listened to many other pianists play Round Midnight. But, I always keep coming back the Monk for the best adaption of this piece. Saw him a few times at the 5 Spot in the Villages, Manhattan. Don't know if he ever did Birdland as I never saw him there. His one and only wife, Nellie Smith, was with him for 33 years until his death at 64. A true icon of jazz idiom he was.
Like the other guy said, not an adaptation, but Monk himself made that piece. But that said, I also prefer Monk's version in the end of the day, over Miles, Joe Pass, or any other... Maybe Baden Powell's acoustic guitar version is a close second favorite of mine.
«Sentimos el vacío de Thelonious apartado del borde del piano, el interminable diástole de un solo inmenso corazón donde laten todas nuestras sangres, y del piano, el oso se balancea amablemente y regresa nube a nube hacia el teclado, lo mira como por primera vez, pasea por el aire los dedos indecisos, los deja caer y estamos salvados, hay Thelonious capitán, hay rumbo por un rato». Julio Cortázar. La vuelta al día en ochenta mundos.
If said that Joey just listened and learned this tune by ears and he just could play it, so... both musicians are really incredible.... Yes, Joey took some licks and runs exactly the same, but he is selftaught. Amazing....
To say his style is unorganized is really naive and ridiculous. He created a whole method of playing chords that is completely unique and consistent. I feel bad for the people that can't hear the beauty in his style. But then again maybe I don't because once I heard Monk his was the only piano playing I could listen to. He's the best musician of the 20th century. Any genre.
Check out "Monk in Wonderland." That is a piece written for him celebrating his music composed by Grachan Moncur. Monk told Grachan that is was his favorite song written about him!
What you'll notice is that he plays with fingers perfectly straight which is NOT what's taught by most of the piano teachers; they stress you need to play with curved fingers, yet even Horowitz didn't play that way.
