THELONIOUS MONK

'Thelonious Sphere Monk' (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was a jazz pianist and composer.
Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire (including his classic works "'Round Midnight" and "Blue Monk"). He is often regarded as a founder of bebop, although his playing style evolved away from the form.
His compositions and improvisations are full of dissonant harmonies and angular melodic twists, and are impossible to separate from Monk's unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of silences and hesitations.

Contents

Life and career

Early life

First recordings (1944–1954)

Riverside Records period (1954-1961)

Columbia Records period (1962-1970)

Later life

Discography (LP and CD issues only)

Samples

Compositions

Trivia

External links

Life and career

Early life

Little is known about Monk's early life. He was born on October 10, 1917 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of Thelonious and Barbara Monk, two years after a sister named Marian. A younger brother, Thomas, was born a couple of years later. Monk started playing the piano at the age of nine; although he had some formal training and eavesdropped on his sister's piano lessons, he was essentially self-taught.
In 1922 the family moved to Manhattan living at 243 West 63rd St., and Monk attended Stuyvesant High School, but did not graduate.
He briefly toured with an evangelist in his teens, playing the church organ, and in his late teens he began to find work playing jazz. He is believed to be the pianist featured on recordings Jerry Newman made around 1941 at Minton's Playhouse, the legendary Manhattan club where Monk was the house pianist. His style at the time is described as "hard-swinging," with the addition of runs in the style of Art Tatum. Monk's stated influences include Duke Ellington, James P. Johnson, and other early stride pianists.
Monk's unique piano style was largely perfected during his stint as the house pianist at Minton's in the early-to-mid 1940s, when he participated in the famous after-hours "cutting competitions" that featured most of the leading jazz soloists of the day. The Minton's scene was crucial in the formulation of the bebop genre and it brought Monk into close contact and collaboration with other leading exponents of bebop including Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Christian, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, and Milt Jackson.

First recordings (1944–1954)

In 1944 Monk made his first studio recordings with the Coleman Hawkins Quartet. Hawkins was among the first prominent jazz musicians to promote Monk, and Monk later returned the favor by inviting Hawkins to join him on the 1957 session with John Coltrane. Monk made his first recordings as leader for Blue Note in 1947 (later anthologised on ''Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1'') which showcased his talents as a composer of original melodies for improvisation. Monk married Nellie Smith the same year, and in 1949 the couple had a son, T.S. Monk, who later became a jazz drummer. A daughter, Barbara (affectionately known as Boo-Boo), was born in 1953.
In August 1951, New York City police searched a parked car occupied by Monk and friend Bud Powell. The police found narcotics in the car, presumed to have belonged to Powell. Monk refused to testify against his friend, so the police confiscated his New York City Cabaret Card. Without the all-important cabaret card he was unable to play in any New York venue where liquor was served, and this severely restricted his ability to perform for several crucial years. Monk spent most of the early and mid-1950s composing, recording, and performing at theaters and out-of-town gigs.
After his cycle of intermittent recording sessions for Blue Note during 1947–1952, he was under contract to Prestige Records for the following two years. With Prestige he cut several under-recognized, but highly significant albums, including collaborations with saxophonist Sonny Rollins and drummer Art Blakey. In 1954, Monk participated on the famed Christmas Eve sessions which produced the albums, ''Bags' Groove'' and ''Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants'' by Miles Davis. Davis found Monk's idiosyncratic accompaniment style difficult to improvise over and asked him to lay out (not accompany), which almost brought them to blows.
In 1954, Monk paid his first visit to Europe, performing and recording in Paris. It was here that he first met Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, "Nica", member of the Rothschild banking family of England and patroness of several New York City jazz musicians. She would be a close friend for the rest of his life.

Riverside Records period (1954-1961)

At the time of his signing to Riverside, Monk was highly regarded by his peers and by some critics, but his records did not sell in significant numbers, and his music was still regarded as too "difficult" for mass-market acceptance. Indeed, Riverside had managed to buy out his previous Prestige contract for a mere $108.24. His breakthrough came thanks to a compromise between Monk and the label, which convinced him to record two albums of his interpretations of jazz standards.
His debut for Riverside was a 'themed' record featuring Monk's distinctive interpretations of the music of Duke Ellington. The resulting LP, ''Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington'', was designed to bring Monk to a wider audience, and pave the way for a broader acceptance of his unique style. According to recording producer Orrin Keepnews, Monk appeared unfamiliar with the Ellington tunes and spent a long time reading the sheet music and picking the melodies out on the piano keys. Given Monk's long history of playing, it seems unlikely that he didn't know Ellington's music, and it has been surmised that Monk's seeming ignorance of the material was a manifestation of his typically perverse humor, combined with an unstated reluctance to prove his own musical competency by playing other composers' works (even at this late date, there were still critics who carped that Monk "couldn't play"). The album is generally regarded as one of the less successful Monk studio outings but one that encouraged more consumer interest to the point where Riverside felt ready to try out an album featuring Monk's own compositions.
Finally, on the 1956 LP ''Brilliant Corners'', Monk was able to record his own music. The complex title track (which featured legendary tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins) was so difficult to play that the final version had to be edited together from three separate takes. The album however, was largely regarded as the first success for Monk; according to Orrin Keepnews, "It was the first that made a real splash."
After having his cabaret card restored, Monk relaunched his New York career with a landmark six-month residency at the Five Spot Cafe in New York beginning in June 1957, leading a quartet that included John Coltrane on tenor saxophone. Unfortunately little of this group's music was documented, apparently because of contractual problems (Coltrane was signed to Prestige). One studio session was made by Riverside but only later released on Jazzland; an amateur tape from the Five Spot (not the original residency, it seems, but a later 1958 reunion) was uncovered in the 1990s and issued on Blue Note. On November 29 that year the quartet performed at Carnegie Hall and the concert was recorded in high fidelity by the Voice of America broadcasting service. The long-lost tape of that concert was rediscovered in the collection of the Library of Congress in January 2005. In 1958 Johnny Griffin took Coltrane's place as tenor player in Monk's band.
In 1958, Monk and de Koenigswarter were detained by police in Wilmington, Delaware. When Monk refused to answer the policemen's questions or cooperate with them, they beat him with a blackjack. Though the police were authorized to search the vehicle and found narcotics in suitcases held in the trunk of the Baroness's car, Judge Christie of the Delaware Superior Court ruled that the unlawful detention of the pair, and the beating of Monk, rendered the consent to the search void as given under duress. ''State v. De Koenigswarter'', 177 A.2d 344 (Del. Super. 1962). Monk was represented by Theophilus Nix, the second African-American member of the Delaware Bar Association.

Columbia Records period (1962-1970)

In 1964, Monk appeared on the cover of Time magazine. By now he was signed to a major label, Columbia Records, and was promoted more widely than earlier in his career. Monk also had a regular working group, featuring the tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse. He recorded a number of well-reviewed studio albums, particularly, ''Monk's Dream'' (1962) and ''Underground'' (1968). By the Columbia period his compositional output had reduced in number. Only his final Columbia record, ''Underground'', featured a substantial number of new tunes, including his only waltz-time piece, "Ugly Beauty."
His period with Columbia Records is well-represented with well-received live albums. These included ''Miles and Monk at Newport'' (1963), ''Live at the It Club'' (1964) and ''Live at the Jazz Workshop'' (1964). (The rhythm section of Monk's quartet during the peak years (1964-1967) of his Columbia period was rounded out by Larry Gales (bass) and Ben Riley (drums).)
He disappeared from the scene by the mid-1970s and made only a small number of appearances during the final decade of his life. His last recording was completed in November 1971.

Later life

Monk's manner was idiosyncratic. Visually, he was renowned for his distinctively "hip" sartorial style in suits, hats and sunglasses, and he developed an unusual, highly syncopated and percussive manner of playing piano. He was also noted for the fact that at times he would stop playing, stand up from the keyboard and dance in a counterclockwise fashion, ring-shout style, while the other musicians in the combo played.
It is said that he would rarely speak to anyone other than his beloved wife Nellie, and certainly in later years it was reported that he would go through an entire tour without speaking to the other members of his group. Bassist Al McKibbon, who had known Monk for twenty years and played on his final tour in 1971, later said "On that tour Monk said about two words. I mean literally maybe two words. He didn't say 'Good morning', 'Goodnight', 'What time?' Nothing. Why, I don't know. He sent word back after the tour was over that the reason he couldn't communicate or play was that Art Blakey and I were so ugly." [1]
Although these anecdotes may typify Monk's behavior in his later life, in Lewis Porter's biography of John Coltrane, the saxophonist reveals a very different side of Monk; Coltrane states that Monk was, in his opinion:
"... exactly the opposite of Miles [Davis]. He talks about music all the time and wants so much for you to understand that if, by chance, you ask him something, he'll spend hours if necessary to explain it to you."
There has been speculation that some of Monk's quirky behaviour was due to mental illness. In the documentary film ''Straight, No Chaser'' (produced in 1989 by Clint Eastwood on the subject of Monk's life and music), Monk's son, T.S. Monk, reported that Monk was on several occasions hospitalized due to an unspecified mental illness that worsened in the late 1960s. No diagnosis was ever made public, but some have noted that Monk's symptoms suggest bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or Tourette's Syndrome. Whatever the precise diagnosis, anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that Monk was suffering from some form of pathological introversion and that from the late sixties onward he became increasingly uncommunicative and withdrawn. As his health declined, his last years were spent as a guest in the New Jersey home of his long-standing patron, Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter, who had also nursed Charlie Parker during his final illness.
He died of a stroke on February 17, 1982 and was buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Since his death, his music has been rediscovered by a wider audience and he is now counted alongside the likes of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and others as a major figure in the history of jazz. In 1993, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Monk's music is arguably the most recorded of any jazz composer. In 2006, Monk was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Music "Special Citation." [2]

Discography (LP and CD issues only)

★ ''Midnight at Minton's'' (c.1941, issued 1973 under Don Byas' name. Monk does not play on all tracks of this or the other two CDs of 1941 material)

★ ''After Hours'' (c.1941, issued 1973 under Charlie Christian's name)

★ ''After Hours in Harlem'' (c.1941, issued 1973 under Hot Lips Page's name

★ '' (1947–1948 recordings)

★ '' (1947–1952 recordings)

★ ''Thelonious Monk Trio'' (1952)

★ ''Monk'' (1953, reissue of 1956)

★ ''Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins'' (1953 recordings, 1957 reissue)

★ ''Thelonious Monk plays the Music of Duke Ellington'' (1955)

★ ''The Unique Thelonious Monk'' (1955)

★ ''Brilliant Corners'' (1956 recording with Sonny Rollins and Clark Terry)

★ ''Thelonious Himself'' (1957)

★ ''Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane'' (1957 recordings, 1961 issue)

★ ''Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk'' (1957)

★ ''Monk's Music'' (1957)

★ ''Mulligan Meets Monk'' (1957, with Gerry Mulligan)

★ ''Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall'' (1957, released, 2005)

★ ''Thelonious in Action'' and ''Misterioso'' (1958, live at the Five Spot with Johnny Griffin)

★ ''The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall'' (1959, Charlie Rouse joined the band then)

★ ''5 by Monk by 5'' (1959)

★ ''Thelonious Alone in San Francisco'' (1959)

★ ''Thelonious Monk And The Jazz Giants'' (1959)

★ ''Thelonious Monk at the Blackhawk'' (1960, with Charlie Rouse)

★ ''Monk in France'' (1961)

★ ''Monk's Dream'' (1962)

★ ''Criss Cross'' (1962)

★ ''Monk in Tokyo'' (1963)

★ ''Miles & Monk at Newport'' (1963, with unrelated 1958 Miles Davis performance)

★ ''Big Band and Quartet in Concert'' (1963)

★ ''It's Monk's Time'' (1964)

★ ''Monk (album)'' (1964)

★ ''Solo Monk'' (1964)

★ ''Live at the It Club'' (1964)

★ ''Live at the Jazz Workshop'' (1964)

★ ''Straight, No Chaser'' (1966)

★ ''Underground'' (1967)

★ ''Monk's Blues'' (1968)

★ ''Something in Blue'', ''Nice Work in London'', ''Blue Sphere'' and ''The Man I Love'' (all 1971 recordings, collected in ''The London Collection'' 1988, three CDs)

★ ''April in Paris'' (1981 2-LP set of the 18 April 1961 Paris recordings)

★ ''Monk's Classic Recordings'' (1983)

★ ''Blues Five Spot'' (1984, unissued recordings from 1958-61, with various saxophonists and Thad Jones, cornet)

★ ''The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings'' (2006 collection of the 1957 studio recordings with Coltrane)

Samples

★ of "Ruby, My Dear"

Compositions

★ Ask Me Now

★ Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are (aka Bolivar Blues)

★ Bemsha Swing

★ Bluehawk

★ Blue Monk

★ Blues Five Spot (aka Five Spot Blues)

★ Blue Sphere

★ Boo Boo's Birthday

★ Brake's Sake

★ Bright Mississippi

★ Brilliant Corners

★ Bye-Ya

★ Coming on the Hudson

★ Crepuscule with Nellie

★ Criss Cross

★ Epistrophy

★ Eronel

★ Evidence

★ 52nd Street Theme

★ Four in One

★ Friday the 13th

★ Functional

★ Gallop's Gallop

★ Get It Straight

★ Green Chimneys

★ Hackensack

★ Harlem is Awful Messy

★ Hornin' In

★ Humph

★ I Mean You (aka Stickball)

★ Introspection (aka Playhouse)

★ In Walked Bud

★ Jackie-ing

★ Let's Call This

★ Let's Cool One

★ Light Blue

★ Little Rootie Tootie

★ Locomotive

★ Misterioso

★ Monk's Dream

★ Monk's Mood

★ Monk's Point

★ North of the Sunset

★ Nutty

★ Off Minor (aka What Now)

★ Oska T

★ Pannonica

★ Played Twice

★ Raise Four

★ Reflections

★ Rhythm-a-ning

★ Round Lights

★ 'Round Midnight (song)

★ Ruby, My Dear

★ San Francisco Holiday (aka Worry Later)

★ Shuffle Boil

★ Sixteen

★ Skippy

★ Something in Blue

★ Straight, No Chaser

★ Stuffy Turkey

★ Teo

★ Thelonious

★ Think of One

★ Trinkle Tinkle

★ Two Timer (aka Five Will Get You Ten)

★ Ugly Beauty

★ Well, You Needn't (It's Over Now)

★ We See (aka Manganese)

★ Who Knows

★ Work

Trivia

★ The unusual name of Thelonious is given in many translations of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' as an alternate spelling for ''Philonius'', Mercury's son. Today, most scholars agree that the spelling should have been Thelonious.

★ The 1920 US Federal Census lists Thelonious and his father (a laborer) as "Theloins".

★ Asteroid (11091) Thelonious has been named in honor of Thelonious Monk.

★ An episode of '' is sub-titled "Felonius Monk", an obvious reference to Thelonious Monk.

★ Pharrell Williams has used the nickname Thelonius P, a homage to Thelonious Monk.

★ Lupe Fiasco has mentioned Thelonious Monk in many of his songs, both homaging Pharrell in some, and Thelonious himself.

★ The coffee-shop that is frequented in the show Seinfeld is called Monk's after Thelonious Monk. Apparently there was a Thelonious Monk poster hanging in the room Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld would write the script.

★ In ''The Simpsons'' episode "Trilogy of Error", Lisa encounters a boy at another school named Thelonious who seemingly matches her intelligence and loneliness:
:
★ Thelonious: My name's Thelonious.
:
★ Lisa: As in "Monk?"
:
★ Thelonious: Yes. The esoteric appeal is worth the beatings.

★ John Coltrane described the difficulties of playing with Monk: "I always had to be alert with Monk, because if you didn't keep aware all the time of what was going on you'd suddenly feel as if you'd stepped into an empty elevator shaft." Another time he commented that if one didn't pay close attention while accompanying Monk, he could get so lost (in Monk's complex musical structures) he'd never find his way back.

★ North Coast Brewery brews a beer named Brother Thelonious, a Belgian style abbey ale, in honor of Thelonious Monk. North Coast Brewery is associated with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and donates $2 to the institute from every case of Brother Thelonious sold.

★ Steely Dan gives a nod to Thelonious is their 1972 song "Midnight Cruiser," the first verse of which begins "Felonious my old friend, Step on in and let me shake your hand, So glad you're here again, For one more time, Let your madness run with mine."

★ There is a track entitled 'Thelonius' on the rapper Common's breakthrough album, Like Water for Chocolate.

External links

★ Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz

★ Thelonious Monk's birth certificate

★ The Official Thelonious Sphere Monk Website

★ A Thelonious Monk Website

★ Thelonious Monk at All About Jazz

★ IMDb entry for ''Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser''

★ Read a review of Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane...At Carnegie Hall

★ CBC.ca Article on 2006 Pulitzer Prize Winners