Artist:Thelonious Monk
Song:Rhythm-A-Ning
Album:Ken Burns Jazz
Similar to what I did with Lee Morgan the other day, I am going to recommend a CD for beginners to the music of legendary pianist Thelonious Monk. The big difference is Morgan recorded mostly for Blue Note. Monk recorded for several labels. Because the video clip is from the 60s, I will concentrate on his years recording for Columbia from 1962-68. I also recommend you watch the 1988 documentary Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser which can be streamed on YouTube. Monk was born Oct. 10, 1917 in Rocky Mount, NC but he grew up in New York City. He was named after his father. He took classical piano lessons as a child but got into jazz as a teen. In the 40s he was the house pianist at the New York nightclub Minton's Playhouse so he played with plenty of big name jazz musicians. Monk's main influences were Art Tatum, Duke Ellington and stride pianist James P. Johnson who lived in the same neighborhood as Monk when he was a teen. He reported for his US Army induction but was rejected by the psychiatrist. One of Monk's early mentors was pianist Mary Lou Williams. In fact, Rhythm-A-Ning is based on Mary Lou's 1936 arrangement of Walking and Swinging. She was in Andy Kirk's band at the time. Monk recorded for Blue Note from 1947-52. Monk was a hard sell because from the outside, he looked weird. And he didn't like doing interviews. Then in 1951 the police found drugs in a car he occupied with Bud Powell. They were Powell's drugs but Monk refused to testify against him so his cabaret card was revoked. That meant he couldn't play most New York clubs. Monk recorded for Prestige from 1952-54 and Riverside from 1955-60. He went to Paris in 1954 and Mary Lou Williams introduced Monk to Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter, a member of the Rothschild family. She was a big jazz fan and was friends with Monk and other musicians. His Riverside albums didn't do much better than his Prestige albums. His music was considered to be too difficult to be mainstream. Monk got his cabaret card back in 1957. He led a quartet with John Coltrane but they never recorded together. Coltrane was still under contract to Prestige and Monk refused to record for them. Monk first recorded Rhythm-A-Ning on the 1957 album Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk. This was recorded for Atlantic Records just before Blakey signed with Blue Note. Monk would record Rhythm-A-Ning many times and he played it live regularly. When Monk's relationship with Riverside soured, Monk signed with Columbia where John Hammond and Teo Macero made sure that no one would bother him. Monk recorded for Columbia from 1962-70. Rhythm-A-Ning is from the 1963 album Criss Cross. It was his second album for Columbia. Musicians were Charles Rouse on tenor sax, John Ore on bass and Frankie Dunlop on drums. Rouse worked with Monk from 1959-70. Criss Cross is available as a budget CD. But I recommend this budget comp that was released with the PBS documentary Ken Burns Jazz. You can stream the series on Hoopla or Kanopy for free with a library card. A lot of Monk's Columbia recordings were live and by the 70s, his health was failing. He died on Feb. 17, 1982 at age 62. Here's Thelonious Monk with Charles Rouse, John Ore and Frankie Dunlop performing Rhythm-A-Ning on Belgian TV 1963.
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