Monk’s Music - Thelonious Monk

Mar

27

Monk’s Music - Thelonious Monk

≡ Category: 1950s, Bebop, Essential, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING

Rating:

One of the problems with Monk is the difficulty of finding musicians who were sympathetic to his music. Fortunately, on Monk’s Music, Thelonious is playing with a kindred spirit, Art Blakey, who was keyed into the Monkian universe.

It’s not that Ray Copeland (trumpet), Gigi Gryce (alto sax), and Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax) are bad musicians. They’re not. It’s just that they’re playing vanilla bebop over Monk’s music, which demands more than that. John Coltrane is the only horn player to completely capture the composer’s intention on Monk’s Music, and only in his alert solo on Epistrophy. Unfortunately, bassist Wilbur Ware is so grieviously underrecorded on Monk’s Music, you can barely make out his contribution.

Fortunately, the batch of tunes that Monk elected to play on Monk’s Music are more suited to straight bebop interpretations than the thorny compositions on Brilliant Corners, so the solos by the horn players don’t sound as out of place. But compare that to what happens when Monk or Blakey solo. It’s a whole different world, in which odd rhythmic accents and sly humor hold sway.

So, given my criticisms, why am I giving Monk’s Music an Essential rating? Well, even though the horn players other than Coltrane can’t give Monk’s compositions the interpretations they truly deserve, their solos are still gorgeous, textbook examples of straight bebop. Coleman Hawkin’s performance on the ballad, Ruby My Dear is just lovely. As for Monk himself or Art Blakey, whenever they start to improvise, the date lifts off into the stratosphere.

Then there’s the compositions themselves, and the arrangements Monk has made for them. They aren’t quite as impressive as those of Brilliant Corners, but they’re brilliant just the same.

In my mind, Monk’s Music is one of a handful of Monk records which any jazz lover should own.