The Transformer
| The Transformer | ||||
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| Studio album by Thelonious Monk | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Thelonious Records | |||
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Format (s) |
2 CD |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
107: 08 |
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| occupation |
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Thelonious Monk junior , Peter G. Grain |
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Studio (s) |
New York City |
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The Transformer is a posthumously produced album by Thelonious Monk . The recordings, which were made in Monk's apartment between January and March 1957, as well as during the pianist's live performances in the Stockholm Konserthuset on May 16, 1961 and two concerts in Paris (March 9, 1963 and February 23, 1964), were released on double CD in 2002 -Album as a production by the Monk son Thelonious Monk junior on Thelonious Records and 2007 on Explore Records. The archive material documents Thelonious Monk's entire process of converting the American standard “ I'm Getting Sentimental Over You ” into a version “that bears his individualistic and unmistakable stamp,” wrote Lindsay Paner in Allmusic.
background
During the recordings you can experience how Thelonious Monk interprets the standard “I'm Getting Sentimental Over You” using his style, performed in auditions from the apartment and then three different concert performances with this melody. The first CD consists of solo piano exercises and their refinements from 1957, in which Monk plays with the melody and chord changes, then redefines the song step by step with each of the five takes, adding his own touch. As he continues to play, he tries ever bigger variations by adding arpeggiated figures, his trademark of little flourishes, stride accents and at the end a nearly 30-minute version of ever-growing and personalized substitutions, while still following the rationale, remains true to the form of the piece at a moderate pace.
These recordings are being prepared for publication for the first time from Monk's estate under the supervision of his son Thelonious Jr. The recordings on the first CD were made on a portable tape recorder with a single microphone. The recordings were remastered in Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The live versions also appeared on the albums Thelonious Monk Quartet in Stockholm (Dragon DRLP151 / 152), Evidence (France's Concert FCD105) and Live in Paris 1964 (France's Concert FC132).
Track list
- Monk - The Transformer (Thelonious Records - TR-1014, Explore EXP0028)
- CD 1 - Solo Piano
- Transposition Part 1 4:55
- Transposition Part 2 4:28
- Practice Part 1 5:55
- Practice 2, Transform Part 1 16:17
- Transform Part 2 28:45
- CD 2 - Solo Piano and Concert Performance
- Transformation Part 3 18:29
- Performance 1 Paris 3-9-63 (Previously Unreleased) 7:33
- Performance 2 Paris 1964 11:59
- Performance 3 Stockholm 5-16-61 8:16
reception
Lindsay Planer said in Allmusic that it was the final version of the title when he performed in Stockholm in 1961, “when Monk and the band really nail the piece in a concise eight-minute version that leaves no doubt about its mastery and ability lets really make the melody his own. While the recordings are likely to appeal only to fans or completists, they offer something that perhaps no other recording in the history of jazz can claim: a complete glimpse into the conception, birth, adaptation, adaptation, and growth of a single composition into adulthood. It is at least a very fascinating exercise that the brilliant maestro of modern music has done even more. "