52nd Street Theme

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52nd Street Theme (also known as Fifty Second Street Theme ) is a 1944 jazz track by Thelonious Monk that became the jazz standard .

Emergence

Thelonious Monk in Minton's Playhouse , September 1947. Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .

The pianist Thelonious Monk wrote 52nd Street Theme in 1944 and registered his copyright under the title Nameless . Leonard Feather then proposed the final title by which it became known, which refers to the popular jazz clubs on 52nd Street in Manhattan in the 1940s . The first recording was made on February 22, 1946; the piece was recorded by a septet led by Dizzy Gillespie . Monk himself never recorded the title under his own name. The thematic motif of 52nd Street Theme , which has 32 bars and the song form AABA, is based on the harmonies of I Got Rhythm in the A sections and the chords of Honeysuckle Rose in the B section. According to Linda Dahl, the composition is heavily influenced by Mary Lou Williams ' title Scorpio , especially in the bass line .

Further recordings and edits

Charlie Parker (e.g. in Bird at St. Nick’s , The Bird Returns , Jazz at Massey Hall and at the Festival International 1949 de Jazz ), Miles Davis and other musicians used the 52nd Street Theme motif when they finished a set on stage . Other studio recordings were made by Kenny Clarke / Fats Navarro ( Swing , 1946) and in Europe for the first time in 1949 by Ronnie Scott Boptet.

Further recordings were made in the 1950s and 1960s; Examples include Toshiko Akiyoshi , Clifford Brown , Donald Byrd , Hank Mobley , Oscar Peterson ( The Oscar Peterson Trio at the Stratford Shakepearean Festival ), Bud Powell ( The Amazing Bud Powell ) and Sonny Rollins . In later years, the 52nd Street Theme also picked up on Ehud Asherie , Paul Bley , Bill Cunliffe , Tommy Flanagan , Terry Gibbs , Barry Harris , Roger Kellaway , Joe Lovano , Greg Osby, and Archie Shepp . The discographer Tom Lord lists 106 versions of the title.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robin Kelley: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original Simon and Schuster 2009, p. 95
  2. ↑ In June 1945, however, the 52nd Street Theme was already played and recorded by Gillespie and Charlie Parker at the concert in the Town Hall ; this live recording was later released. See Dizzy Gillespie Discography
  3. ↑ Cast: Dizzy Gillespie (tp), Don Byas (ts), Milt Jackson (vib), Al Haig (p), Bill De Arango (git), Ray Brown (b) and JC Heard (dr); on the B-side of RCA Victor 40-0130 was Gillespie's A Night in Tunisia .
  4. ^ Robin Kelley: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original .
  5. ^ Max Harrison , Charles Fox, Eric Thacker, Stuart Nicholson : The Essential Jazz Records: Modernism to Postmodernism. London, New York, Mansell 2000, p. 207
  6. ↑ Linda Dahl: Morning Glory: A Biography of Mary Lou Williams , 2012
  7. ↑ Kevin Whitehead : Why Jazz ?: A Concise Guide , 2010, 63
  8. ↑ Tom Lord: Jazz Discography online (accessed September 29, 2013)