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Monk Quartet and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers London April 1960.


Hardbopjazz

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1961? The article below is stating it was 1960.

On 29April 1960 Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers took to the stage for a sell out show at London’s Festival Hall on the south bank of the Thames. This  was Monk’s first appearance in the UK. With top ticket prices at £1 it seems remarkably inexpensive, but the average weekly wage back then was under £19 per week.

According to The Guardian newspaper, “Monk’s appearance on the stage maintained his reputation for eccentricity, a soft cap perched on his head, a tweed suit that appeared to have travelled from New York the hard way, and brogues that had that Brand X look. At intervals he meandered slightly loopily around the stage while his bassist, John Orr, pounded away at chordal progressions on another planet”

https://thejazzword.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/monk-and-the-jazz-messengers-in-london-1960/

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"Saturday 29 April" clearly places the announcement in 1961, not 1960. This is line with the detailed Monk chronology in Robin Kelley's book and with dozens of articles you can find in the National Jazz Archive such as this one:

https://archive.nationaljazzarchive.co.uk/archive/journals/jazz-news/volume5-no14/159061-jazz-news-volume5-no14-0010?q=monk+blakey

 

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Yes, Robin Kelley got the year right, but IIRC said that Monk's extreme delay in appearing on stage occurred in Milan. It happened on that tour, but in Manchester. After a long wait, an embarrassed-looking John Ore came out and played a bass solo. He went off stage, only to return and play another solo. Eventually Monk appeared and things got going. It's a while since I read Kelley, but IIRC he says that George Wein was backstage trying to urge the reluctant Thelonious.

Edited by BillF
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On ‎12‎-‎2‎-‎2018 at 9:48 AM, BillF said:

It was in April 1961, not 1960, and I was there at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. There were only two sets, Blakey on first, Monk second. Even then, it was difficult to get Monk out on stage.:mellow:

 In 1961 Monk made his first European tour !!!

550c17163a6d8520b7fc60cbb7b6d33a.jpg
 
April 1961. Night Concert at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

He produced also a series of live recordings.

CD_JATC1401.jpg
Edited by Cyril
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