bluemonk

I did, and I wholeheartedly agree!!! I can't believe I waited forever to pick this one up. This album just flows so seamlessly from one track to the next, sounding very much (and simultaneously) as a Monk album as well as an Ellington album. Thanks for tipping me to this, guys! That was my first Monk record and is still one of my absolute favorites. Actually, the second one I got was The Unique Thelonious Monk so my initial exposure was him playing other people's material. It's been one hell of a fun journey ever since! If I were you Shawn I would check out Monk's "The Complete Prestige Recordings" box set. It's fantastic!

This was a good session with Rouse:

I liked Rouse with Monk. I mean Monk had many better saxophonists through the years before Rouse: Johnny Griffin, Sonny Rollins, Sahib Shihab, Danny Quebec West, Coltrane, Harold Land, Lucky Thompson, Gigi Gryce, among others. But I think Rouse brought something unique to Monk's band. He brought an understanding to the table. Rouse understood the inner mechanics of the music. He knew the ins and outs. I did like Rollins with Monk. I thought they were a good match, but again, Rouse just could really nail these difficult compositions. Rouse's best playing, in my opinion, was on "Straight, No Chaser," which in opinion was this quartet's best effort. I definitely would have liked to have heard Phil Woods, Johnny Griffin, Coltrane, Rollins, and Harold Land do more work with Monk, but if I had to pick any of them it would be Rollins.

I have over 30 Monk recordings and this is one I was pretty disappointed with. I mean Monk and Trane only played together for what 8 months? I mean that wasn't really that long of period, but in my opinion the best release in recent years concerning Monk has been "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane At Carnegie Hall." This was a fantastic release! Good discovery. I'm glad it finally got to see the light of day thanks to somebody at the Library Of Congress!?!?