At Newport 1963 & 1965
| At Newport 1963 & 1965 | ||||
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| Live album by Thelonious Monk | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Columbia Records | |||
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Format (s) |
2 CD |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
85:13 |
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| occupation |
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Teo Macero (Original LP), Orrin Keepnews (Reissue) |
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Studio (s) |
Newport, Rhode Island |
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At Newport 1963 & 1965 is an album by Thelonious Monk . The recordings, which were made at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 3, 1963 and July 4, 1965, appeared in 2002 as a double CD on Columbia Records . Two tracks from the Newport recording from 1963 had already been released on the B-side of the Columbia album Miles & Monk at Newport (1963).
background
One month after a tour of Japan, during which the albums Monk in Tokyo and Thelonious Monk were created in Japan in 1963 , Thelonious Monk performed with his quartet of Charlie Rouse , Butch Warren and Frankie Dunlop at the Newport Jazz Festvial . In “Nutty” and “Blue Monk” (probably at the instigation of the organizer George Wein ) joined the clarinetist Pee Wee Russell , a veteran of Chicago jazz ; Thomas Fitterling noted that he was allowed to play the second wind soloist in the two numbers. 57-year-old Pee Wee Russell experienced a career renaissance in the early 1960s when he took to the stage with Monk's group. Columbia, whose sub-label Ember released the LP The Two of Us and Jazz in 1963 , “tried to position him as the cool old guy who still has something to do with today's music ,” says Matt Cibula it didn't quite work. In fact, he wasn't familiar with 'Nutty' and 'Blue Monk', hadn't rehearsed with the group and later said he didn't like 'that kind of music'. "
After the Thelonious Monk Quartet performed again in Newport in July 1964, this time with Bob Cranshaw on bass, the performance was recorded by Columbia the following year. Thelonious Monk played with Charlie Rouse, Larry Gales and Ben Riley the tracks "Off Minor", " Ruby, My Dear ", "Hackensack" and again as the final number "Epistrophy".
Editorial notes
Two tracks from Newport's 1963 recordings, "Nutty" and "Blue Monk", had already been released in 1963 on the Columbia album Miles & Monk at Newport . The track "Light Blue" appeared in 1965 with Columbia on the compilation album Misterioso (Recorded on Tour) , "Criss Cross" 1979 on Always Know . "Epistrophy" in the 1963 version first appeared in 1982 on the Canadian Columbia on the compilation Newport Jazz Festival: Live (Unreleased Highlights from 1956, 1958, 1963) . The music from Monk's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1965 was previously unpublished.
Track list
- Thelonious Monk - At Newport 1963 & 1965 (Columbia C2K 63905, Legacy C2K 63905)
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- CD 1 (Newport 1963)
- Criss Cross 8:12
- Light Blue 9:54
- Nutty 13:51
- Blue Monk 11:24
- Epistrophy ( Kenny Clarke , Th. Monk) 6:34
- CD 2 - (Newport 1965)
- Off Minor 13:20
- Ruby, My Dear 7:12
- Hackensack 9:00
- Epistrophy (K. Clarke, Th. Monk) 5:46
reception
Ken Dryden gave the album a four-star rating in Allmusic, saying the earlier material with Charlie Rouse, Butch Warren and Frankie Dunlop is already very familiar to serious Monk fans, especially the inspired addition (based on a suggestion from festival producer George Wein) by clarinetist Pee Wee Russell on two titles. In the author's opinion, Russell's dissonant lines were a perfect fit, and it would be unfair to criticize him for temporarily losing his footing when Monk suddenly got out of “Nutty” in the middle of his guest's solo because there were no rehearsals before the performance and it was also unlikely (but not impossible) that Russell was very familiar with Monk's recordings. Russell has no problem with the subsequent “Blue Monk”, a more straightforward blues that seems to inspire the veteran who is usually at home with Dixieland or Chicago jazz, although his approach to the instrument seems to go beyond these limits. Monk's quartet versions of "Criss Cross", "Light Blue" and "Epistrophy" are all top notch. on the relatively short, 35-minute set from 1965, a long but passionate “Off Minor” stands out from the rest of the performance.
Matt Cibula wrote in Pop Matters in 2002 that “Criss Cross” (1963) was “a disciplined romp through one of Monk's most complicated compositions” and emphasized Rouse, who sounds just as powerful live as in the studio. In the opinion of the reviewer, because of his work here and in the ballad Light Blue , Rouses should be nominated “as one of the best live soloists in jazz history ”.
The second record with the previously unreleased set from July 4, 1965 was a discovery; Monk's band, consisting of Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums, is said to be one of the pianist's best, whipping through some of his wildest songs, "Off Minor," that mysterious descending piece, gets 13 glorious minutes with plenty of solo space for all parties; the relatively seldom played “Hackensack” emerges in its lively way and comes into its own with one of Gales' walking bass solos and some cool interactions between him and Riley. This quartet was a well-oiled machine (as heard in the Live at the It Club set), the author sums up, "and this is a fine example of how great they could be."
According to Thomas Fitterling, the two titles with Pee Wee Russell are more of a curiosity; the game of the Monk team is otherwise not very imaginative.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The Miles Davis Sextet & The Thelonious Monk Quartet - Miles & Monk at Newport at Discogs
- ↑ a b Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed February 25, 2020)
- ↑ a b Thomas Fitterling: Thelonious Monk. His life, his music, his records. Oreos, Waakirchen 1987, ISBN 3-923657-14-5 .
- ↑ Pee Wee Russell / Pee Wee Hunt - The Two Of Us And Jazz at Discos
- ↑ a b c Matt Cibula: Thelonious Monk: Monk's Dream / Monk. / At Newport 1963 & 1965. Pop Matters, November 7, 2002, accessed February 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Thelonious Monk - Misterioso at Discogs
- ↑ Thelonious Monk - Always Know at Discogs
- ^ Newport Jazz Festival: Live (Unreleased Highlights From 1956, 1958, 1963) at Discogs
- ↑ Thelonious Monk - At Newport 1963 & 1965 at Discogs
- ^ Review of the album at Allmusic (English). Retrieved February 25, 2020.