Guy Berger Posted October 2, 2004 Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 September 22, 2004 was the 50th anniversary of Thelonious Monk's original recording of "Blue Monk". A classic performance of a classic tune. Thanks Thelonious! Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrdlu Posted October 8, 2004 Report Share Posted October 8, 2004 Recently, I listened again to the London sessions and the first five or six Riverside sessions. Why did so many people dislike him? The improvisations are very logical, and you can see that there's a superb musical mind at work. And there's a lot of technique - many runs would be quite difficult to execute if written out and stuck in front of a pianist. I recently watched a TV show in which a poncy talking head was grumbling about some of Monk's chord voicings and saying that it would have been hard for a horn player to improvise with that behind him. Rubbish! Man, I would have loved to play with Thelonious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted October 9, 2004 Report Share Posted October 9, 2004 They just look at the surface - there it sounds odd. At least not like you are taught in music school. You have to dig inside the music to love Monk - but then it is eternally rewarding. Blue Monk sounds easy - just a blues tune. But to have it really say something .... I love Monk's first recording on Prestige, the live version with Griffin on Riverside, and Abbey Lincoln's. Most people play it too fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enterprise Server Posted October 16, 2004 Report Share Posted October 16, 2004 Strange I came across this post. I'm currently doing a Saturday Monk fest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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