He drops a few hints to let the listening audience know it’s still “Body and Soul,” but on a higher level, he freed the soloist to discover additional melodic possibilities in a song. Though we never left the classics entirely, we agreed that we’d split the ninety minutes into sixty classical and thirty jazz. Monk’s intuitive impulses and obvious originality demanded that he become the leader, but to do that he needed a group of supporting musicians who could ride the unexpected waves he would leave in his wake. In stock now for same day shipping. Monk's Dream is a warm reunion of old friends, but those friends could have tried a little … Jazz purists will point you in the direction of his recordings for Prestige and Riverside, but this is the best place to start. Its success propelled him to jazz stardom that reached its apex when he appeared on the cover of Time magazine in February of 1964.With producer Teo Macero facilitating the proceedings, Monk, along with tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, bassist John Ore, and drummer … The ending flourishes are both beautiful and deeply ironic. I have a couple of jazz reviews coming up in the first half of 2021, including one from Monk’s early “composition” phase. Criss-Cross with the same quartet (and in serious need of a reissue) was the second jazz record I ever bought and it made an even bigger impression than Coltrane's My Favorite Things, which was my first.. Monk rocked and Charlie Rouse had such a punk attitude (but it would be unfair to not mention that … Music: Sound: by John Crossett | October 31, 2019. I was fast outgrowing the anal little girl who demanded a sense of order in the world and becoming a teenager with enormous cravings for sensual experiences of all kinds, including sensual music. Thank you! Much more interesting is Monk’s transformation of the Guy Lombardo hit, “Sweet and Lovely.” It constantly amazes me what the modern jazz greats did with rather pedestrian standards, for when I listen The Sound of Music version of “My Favorite Things,” I think “yuck!” and never want to hear that fucking song again as long as I live. Upon hearing Kimbrough perform a program of Monk’s music at New York’s Jazz Standard in October of 2017 (during the club’s celebration of Monk’s centennial), concert presenter Mait Jones approached him with the idea. Featured peformers: Thelonious Monk (piano), Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone), John Ore (bass), Frankie Dunlop (drums), Teo Macero (producer), Don Hunstein (photography). All rights reserved. Expand your musical horizons by spending some time with a genius. … Read More “Paul Desmond: The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings (Mosaic)”, “His music is always very, very joyful,” Kenny Barron says about fellow piano master Monty Alexander in the notes accompanying Love You Madly, documenting a … Read More “Monty Alexander: Love You Madly: Live at Bubba’s (Resonance)”, America's jazz resource, delivered to your inbox. Review of six-disc comprehensive Monk set on which the pianist is joined by Scott Robinson, Rufus Reid, and Billy Drummond. When Monk looked at the keyboard, he didn’t see white keys and black keys, but infinite possibilities. People have always had a problem with those who are different, even with those whose different natures harm no one. Check out Monk's Dream (Remastered) by Thelonious Monk on Amazon Music. 9 Album Only. Never saw Monk , but vivid memories of everyone else , from Learn how your comment data is processed. Cover of Frank Kimbrough album Monk’s Dreams. This review is based solely on the bonus CD, as the LP wasn’t available for review. This version is a bit more polished and subdued; nice, but not up to the standard of the Prestige original. Bing Crosby’s is suitably laid-back and threadbare, rather like his rendition of “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime” without the indignation. “You know, I’m kind of getting tired of this stuff. This is a pretty simplistic jazz album … A seminal album that I now can't imagine life without. Published since 1970, JazzTimes—“America’s Jazz Magazine”—provides comprehensive and in-depth coverage of the jazz scene. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. I’ll probably pull my original LP out every so often, if only for nostalgia's sake. Monk is still pretty hot, mixing up the dynamics with more subtlety during Charlie’s sax solo. Add Your Rating & Review. All week I’d be blasting punk rock into my auditory canals, then on Saturday mornings I’d have to go play one-sixth of the first movement of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. Monk returns with what sounds like a new melodic theme, but no, you hear the familiar motif thrown in the mix and you begin to appreciate how much this man can create from a single musical idea. “Start it again!” I said with excitement. They may never reach Monk’s level of improvisational and compositional brilliance, but it would sure make music a lot more interesting than it is at present. Love that Monk. My favorite vocal version is Ella Fitzgerald’s, but the most influential was Coleman Hawkins’ 1939 version where he ignores the original melody and improvises over the chord progression. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Fortunately, Coltrane could see possibilities where I see fluff, and his translation makes the song come alive. Synopsis. It made him a legend. Monk and the music . Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Streetcore, King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King. Visit Juno Daily. At a later date, Kimbrough recorded two solo piano performances. I love playing “Monk’s Dream (Take 8)” for people who are completely unfamiliar with Thelonious Monk, for the invariable initial reaction is, “Does this guy know how to fucking play?” I shush them and tell them to keep listening, and about halfway through they start to feel it. Truly outstanding result with nice clarity, great bass, wonderful space around instruments; the sound is effortless, sweet, yet very detailed and crisp, but not at all fatiguing to listen to. … Loved the message, just didn't like the format it was presented in. Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite – Get Up! ... (6000 copies for Monk's Dream), expect the price only to go up if you wait until Monk's Dream is sold out. Monk turns this rather stiff piece of music into something that sounds more like a genuine appreciation of female beauty than a convention-enforcing reminder to young women to stay cute and keep your mouth shut. . Kimbrough even adopts a more percussive touch than usual, hewing closer to Monk’s mannerisms. What better way to celebrate the 50th anniversary... Louis Armstrong awoke one morning wanting to make... JazzTimes, in association with Ropeadope Records,... What we went to offer is a positive notion, a... With an album title like Zoot Suit Funk, Gayelynn McKinney makes her aim clear. Just came across your review and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it. Monk's Dream THE THELONIOUS MONK QUARTET MONK'S DREAM 180-GRAM 33RPM LP CATALOG: IMP6014 MSRP: $32.99 USD BUY NOW Monk's debut recording for Columbia Records comprises of several tunes previously recorded for Riverside combined with newer material. Music and tech news, interviews, features, reviews and more. Set against the backdrop of Mathura, Dream Girl is a comedy of errors. It was like he decided he’d make up his own rules as he went along, then break those rules and create new ones. Man, I wish I could have lived then. He's created a playful, funny, beautiful & moving soundscape here which offers something new every time. Thelonious Monk, though controversial in his time, was a brilliant, innovative pianist and composer with a unique way of conceiving the music that was yet remarkably simpatico with standard forms.Many of his compositions (they are much more than "tunes," though I'll use that word here as shorthand) have become a regular part of the jazz repertoire, and it is only natural that around the 2017 centennial … May 10, 2012 David Tendo rated it did not like it. If you’re in the mood for quirky-cheerful, go with the Monk’s Dream version; if you’re in the mood for a perfect accompaniment to foreplay, go with the original. Thelonious Monk didn’t need to be told to create new possibilities with anything he touched, and accordingly his version is a fascinating mix of the core song (very recognizable in the opening passages) and a deconstruction/reconstruction of the melody to give it new life. This is about the Wax Time reissue of Monk's Dream. I am too . I didn't splurge for the super expensive MoFi 45rpm super vinyl, but this one is so good that I will never ponder why I might need a different pressing. “Hey, Sunshine, how’s it going?” he greeted me. The best music and the best writing should take you to For years I would go Fridays , first set at Sweet Basil , then walk up the block The CD release features Take 3 as a bonus track, with a shortened intro by Monk and more duet time with Charlie Rouse in the opening minutes; it’s worth a good listen because Monk tries a different set of possibilities, underscoring the constant creativity in his approach to music. Nonetheless, 'Monk's Dream' is the signature album by one of jazz's signature artist. He's created a playful, funny, beautiful & moving soundscape here which offers something new every time. Monk’s Dreams: The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Sphere Monk. It's obviously an instrumental album so if you are looking for vocals, this ain't it. Monk's Dream", "Bye-Ya", and "Sweet and Lovely" were recorded for Prestige at a session ten years earlier. “Five Spot Blues” is a tighter version of “Blues Five Spot,” which appeared previously as a live recording on the Riverside album Misterioso. Many people thought he was crazy, and during his lifetime he was misdiagnosed by several so-called psychiatric experts. Just to show he can do it, Monk and Charlie play the main theme together for a minute at the end, and while Monk can’t help himself from taking a liberty here and there, the duet is spot on. For some reason I always loved Monk’s Sweet and Lovely. Produced by: Teo Macero (produced for release by Dae Bennett, Didier C. Deutsch & Mark Wilder. Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2020. I wish the human race would evolve to the point where we can just skip the crucifixions and the stonings and recognize creative insight as a blessing, not a curse. Between the initial gig and a two-night engagement at Jazz at Kitano in April of 2018, Kimbrough and his bandmates—bassist Rufus Reid, drummer Billy Drummond, and man-of-many-horns Scott Robinson—worked through 45 Monk tunes, more than halfway to the magic number of 70. The original is late-night sexy, lasts for over thirteen glorious minutes and featured a combo of Sonny Rollins, Clark Terry and Ernie Henry. He finally found the right lineup with Charlie Rouse (tenor sax), John Ore (bass) and Frankie Dunlop (drums). Monk covered “Just a Gigolo” twice before this version, on Thelonious Monk Trio for Prestige and Misterioso. That was so unlike my piano lesson experience that it took me a while to get the classical paradigm out of my head and stop expecting the notes to fall where they were supposed to fall. I find nothing more intriguing than the music of Thelonious Monk, so every now and then I’ll take a short passage and try to deconstruct it without bothering to attempt to imitate his approach to the piano. Select Your Cookie Preferences. You could tell what the piece was, but it sure didn’t sound the way Monk played it. What I really want is to learn how to play like Thelonious Monk.”. Philly Joe Jones to Elvin Jones , David Murray to Ron Carter to When they recorded Monk’s Dream, they had been with Monk for a couple of years, so the combo was well-versed in dealing with the unexpected. His other albums may have had more classic material, a more famous lineup or whatever, but this was a consolidation of Monk's genius into one perfect moment when the stars all aligned. Monk returns with what sounds like a new melodic theme, but no, you hear the familiar motif thrown in the mix … […] […]. When he looked at the piano as a percussion instrument, he saw infinite possibilities in the application of force. I’d never heard anyone do what Monk was doing. You will hear all kinds of pejorative adjectives to describe Monk: dissonant, angled, unruly, chaotic. Added. “That, Little Sunshine, is Thelonious Monk,” he replied. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. My piano teacher took the opposite approach, plying me with studies, exercises and fragments of larger classical pieces that I would play over and over again until I got them right. John Ore and Frankie Dunlop make for a swinging bass and drums pairing, driving the tunes with a relaxed but energetic … It's a timeless classic and one of the seminal jazz records of the 20th century. and down the stairs to hear the second set at the Village Vanguard. […] Latest Classic Music Review: Monk’s Dream by Thelonious Monk […]. ( Log Out /  The ten-minute length might put off listeners who have learned to be skeptical of long songs by having been bored to tears by the overwrought progressive rock opus that rarely delivers the goods, but this song flies by and never loses energy. There remains plenty to enjoy in the “oft-covered” column—a “Bemsha Swing” with Drummond goosing the groove, a “Straight, No Chaser” in which Robinson’s contrabass sarrusophone leans more toward squirrely grouse than Charlie Rouse, a “’Round Midnight” possessed of a mystical Reid-focused introduction—but the element of surprise runs double at the other extreme. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. You might not be able to dance to this version of “Body and Soul, ” but it is most definitely an engrossing experience. If you look at Monk’s career, you’ll see that he played with all the big names in the postwar era: Parker, Gillespie, Christian, Clarke, Hawkins, Davis and Coltrane. Track Review Monk's Dream 10/10 Body and Soul 9.5/10 Bright Mississippi 9/10 Five Spot Blues 9.5/10 Blue Bolivar Blues ... read more. His music may be sophisticated, but it often captures the spontaneous exuberance of a child. Engineered by: N/A . Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Monk'S Dream at Amazon.com. After reading the review my thoughts turned back to the decade Louis Prima and David Lee Roth thought of themselves as “good time guys” in the role, which trivializes the character. Pianist Frank Kimbrough never really considered covering Thelonious Monk’s entire compositional oeuvre until a friend planted and watered the seed. “Bright Mississippi” is really “Sweet Georgia Brown,” a ten-minute opportunity for the combo to swing to a more traditional rhythmic pattern. 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