The Unique Thelonious Monk
| The Unique Thelonious Monk | ||||
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| Studio album by Thelonious Monk | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Riverside Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
6th |
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running time |
38:12 |
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| occupation |
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Studio (s) |
Hackensack, New Jersey |
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The Unique Thelonious Monk is an album by Thelonious Monk . The recordings, which were made in Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, on March 17 and April 3, 1956, were released in 1956 as a long-playing record in the Riverside Contemporary Series on Riverside Records and from 1983 also as a compact disc .
background
The album The Unique Thelonious Monk (1956) was the second 12 "-Langspielplatte the pianist during his five-year stint at Riverside Records. Like his debut for the label, Plays Duke Ellington (recorded in 1955), the interpreted material contained again on this album not Compositions by Monk. The selected standards presented the pianist and bandleader in the context of well-known melodies such as " Honeysuckle Rose " at the head of a trio - consisting of Oscar Pettiford (bass) and Art Blakey (drums), which led to him being further established. In terms of staff, Blakey replaced Kenny Clarke while Pettiford had already accompanied Monk on the Ellington record.
Track list
- Thelonious Monk - The Unique Thelonious Monk (Riverside Records - RLP 12-209)
A1 Liza ( Ira and George Gershwin ) 3:13
A2 Memories of You ( Andy Razaf , Eubie Blake ) 4:17 (solo)
A3 Honeysuckle Rose (Andy Razaf, Fats Waller ) 5:34
A4 Darn That Dream ( Johnny Burke , Jimmy Van Heusen ) 6:30
B1 Tea for Two ( Irving Caesar , Vincent Youmans ) 5:55
B2 You Are Too Beautiful ( Lorenz Hart , Richard Rodgers ) 4:56
B3 Just You, Just Me ( Jesse Greer , Raymond Klages ) 7:57
reception
Lindsay Planer awarded the album 4½ (out of 5) stars in Allmusic and judged that the cooperation between Monk and Blakey could not be rated highly enough. The proof of their uncanny instrumental interaction immediately forms a rhythmic focus in "Liza", as the two musically played cat and mouse. The LP ends with one of Monk's most memorable pieces about the funny and free running “Just You, Just Me”. The trio struts and glides while Monk's intricate fingering shows both his physical dexterity and his ability to play smoothly.
Brian Priestley gave the album a four-star rating in Jazzwise and emphasized that Monk's editing of standards was concentrated in often bizarre interpretations such as "Tea for Two", which was fully reharmonized with the sequence from Monk's "Skippy" (1952).
In Thomas Fitterling's opinion, Monk was more proactive in choosing the material than on the previous album; the pianist seems to be more familiar with the songs. The “ Unique ” album offers genuine Monk music without restrictions and sounds much fresher than the Ellington record. Rudy Van Gelder made sure that the technical aspect of the sound was right. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Review of the album at Allmusic (English). Retrieved February 17, 2020.
- ↑ Thelonious Monk - The Unique Thelonious Monk at Discogs
- ↑ Monk plays Duke Ellington / The Unique Thelonious Monk. Jazzwise, October 10, 2019, accessed February 17, 2020 .
- ↑ Thomas Fitterling: Thelonious Monk. His life, his music, his records. Oreos, Waakirchen 1987, ISBN 3-923657-14-5 .