"Following Monk" at Duke University

[Guy Berger]

So Duke University is having a 6 week, 18 program festival celebrating Thelonious Monk.

I'm posting the list for selfish reasons -- I can't decide which of the concerts to go to. It's about 2.5 hrs each way for me from Charlotte, so I will probably catch only one or (maybe) two of these performances. I can't do weeknights. Which performances would you recommend as most essential to attend?

My number one choice is the Jerry Gonzalez concert, but it's on a Thursday so I probably can't do it.

Out of the remaining concerts I'm probably most leaning toward the Weston/Barron double bill or the Barry Harris solo. I'm not a huge fan of solo piano but Harris doing Monk sounds promising.

FOLLOWING MONK CALENDAR OF EVENTS:

Saturday • 9/15/07, 8 pm • Reynolds Industries Theater

World Premiere: Kronos Quartet

Mavericks / Monk: Kronos on Innovators

This evening of music was commissioned for Kronos by FOLLOWING MONK and features three

world premiere arrangements of Round Midnight. Kronos first investigated Monk’s music with

their seminal 1984 album, Monk Suite.

$42 • $36 • $5*

Thursday • 9/20/07, 8 pm • Reynolds Industries Theater

World Premiere: Paul Jeffrey, Leroy Williams, & John Ore featuring Jason Moran

Thelonious Monk's Homecoming: Raleigh's Frog & Nightgown, 1970

Jeffrey and Williams, who played with Monk in his homecoming concerts in 1970, honor that

historic collaboration in a performance also featuring Jason Moran, one of the top young jazz

musicians in the world. The evening starts with the musicians in conversation and includes neverbefore-

heard recordings of the 1970 engagement. In addition to playing with Monk for six years

Jeffrey directed Duke’s Jazz Program for two decades.

$26 • $20 • $5*

Wednesday through Saturday • 9/26/07 through 9/29/07, 8 pm • Smith Warehouse

Duke Department of Theater Studies

Misterioso

Duke’s Department of Theater Studies presents a part-rehearsed, part-improvised jazz-infused

theatrical production based on the legendary Sixth Avenue New York City jazz loft where

photographer W. Eugene Smith and Juilliard professor Hall Overton had studios, where on any

given night 1954-1965 anything could happen, from the mundane to the historic – Monk, Miles

Davis, Dali, Diane Arbus, obscure underground characters, and everything in between.

$10 • $5*

Thursday • 9/27/07, 8 pm • Reynolds Industries Theater

Alonzo King LINES Ballet Company

Following the Subtle Current Upstream & The Moroccan Project

LINES’ FOLLOWING MONK program examines Monk’s influence on the play of time, space,

and rhythm in contemporary ballet, envisioning new ways sound can translate into motion.

$38 • $32 • $5*

Friday • 9/28/07, 8 pm • Baldwin Auditorium

Johnny Griffin w/the Duke Jazz Ensemble

Return of the Little Giant

The Chicago-born Griffin, who broke into the big time as a teenager playing with T-Bone Walker

six decades ago, was one of Monk’s favorite saxophonists and is one of his greatest blues

exponents.

$10 • $5*

Sunday • 9/30/07, 7 pm • Reynolds Industries Theater

Exclusive Concert Event: Charlie Haden & Hank Jones

Steal Away: Spirituals, Hymns, & Folk Songs

A rare performance of Jones’ and Haden’s landmark 1995 album Steal Away, Haden and Jones

present music that would have been familiar to Monk and his kin in eastern North Carolina.

Before the concert, Georgetown University’s Maurice Jackson, who wrote the Grammynominated

liner notes for the original album, talks about Monk’s musical foundation.

$38, $32, $5*

Thursday • 10/4/07, 8 pm • Nelson Music Room

Henry Butler

Solo Piano Concert: Monk's Blues

The New Orleans piano mastermind investigates the roots of Monk’s music, with special

emphasis on North Carolina’s Piedmont blues.

$20 • $5*

Thursday through Sunday • 10/4/07 through 10/7/07 • Center for Documentary Studies

The FOLLOWING MONK Institute

Monk in North Carolina: The History, The Place, The Music, with Special Guest T.S. Monk

A continuing education course based on two day-long guided bus trips and walking tours of

Monk’s birthplace in Rocky Mount, North Carolina and the Newton Grove, North Carolina

plantation where Monk’s father, Thelonious, Sr., and grandfather, Hinton Monk, were born.

Several Monk family members will present their extensive research on the family tree, tracing

their ancestors back to the early 19th century. Scholars and musicians, including Monk’s son

T.S. Monk, discuss the personal, cultural, and musical relevance of Monk’s roots. The event will

also include musical events and an exclusive presentation of sounds and images of Monk’s 1959

Town Hall rehearsals that took place in the loft of Hall Overton and photographer W. Eugene

Smith. A complete itinerary and more information on the institute can be found at

www.jazzloftproject.org.

Course fee: $565 • 20 credit hours

Thursday • 10/11/07, 8 pm • Reynolds Industries Theater

Exclusive Double Bill: Jerry Gonzalez & the Fort Apache Band and Omar Sosa Quartet

Rumba Para Monk

Two of the greatest Latin jazz interpreters of Monk present an extraordinary double-billed concert

heralding his influence on their music.

$38 • $32 • $5*

Friday • 10/12/07, 7 pm • Nasher Museum Auditorium

Stanley Crouch

Monk at Town Hall, 1959: A Talk

The brilliant, outspoken critic presents a talk examining the collaboration between Thelonious

Monk and Hall Overton which resulted in the historic 1959 Town Hall concert.

Free to the public

Saturday • 10/13/07, 8 pm • Page Auditorium

Exclusive Concert Event: Charles Tolliver Orchestra

The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall, 1959: Reviving a Landmark

Tolliver, who attended Monk’s Town Hall concert as a teenager, paces his high-flying orchestra,

featuring Stanley Cowell on piano, as they bring to life his new transcriptions of Monk’s concert

commissioned especially for this event – transcriptions that were augmented by Tolliver’s access

to never-before-heard archival recordings of the original concert rehearsals, courtesy of the Jazz

Loft Project.

$38 • $30 • $22 • $5*

Thursday • 10/18/07, 8 pm • Reynolds Industries Theater

Exclusive Concert Event: Andy Bey Trio

Carmen Sings Monk: A New Interpretation

Perhaps the finest jazz vocalist performing today, Bey presents an intimate performance based on

Carmen McRae’s masterful 1988 album, Carmen Sings Monk.

$26 • $20 • $5*

Friday • 10/19/07, 8 pm • Reynolds Industries Theater

Robert Battle's BATTLEWORKS Modern Dance Company

Monk Movements

Battle has devised an evening-length program of dances specifically for FOLLOWING MONK.

This program honors Monk’s influence on Battle – the impact of his offbeat, dissonant,

humorous, and complex style, as well as his unparalleled use of space and time.

$32 • $26 • $5*

Saturday • 10/20/07, 8 pm • Page Auditorium

Exclusive Double Bill: Randy Weston Trio and Kenny Barron Trio

Monk As Mentor

This concert is an extraordinary double bill of two of Monk’s greatest interpreters, one a close

friend and student (Weston) and the other (Barron), a deep follower.

$38 • $30 • $22 • $5*

Thursday • 10/25/07, 8 pm • Nelson Music Room

Jessica Williams

Solo Piano Concert: A Nod to Mary Lou & Monk

The astounding pianist pays tribute to two of her spiritual mentors, Monk and Mary Lou

Williams, who was an artist-in-residence at Duke from 1977 until her death in 1981. Mary Lou

was among Monk’s first advocates and lifelong friend.

$20 • $5*

Friday • 10/26/07, 7 pm • Nasher Museum Auditorium

Robin D.G. Kelley

The Shape of Jazz After Monk: A Talk

Kelley, the esteemed University of Southern California scholar, is Monk’s authorized biographer

(Thelonious: A Life is forthcoming from the Free Press) and has had first-time access to many of

the family’s intimate archival documents and heirlooms.

Free to the public.

Saturday • 10/27/07, 8 pm • Page Auditorium

World Premiere: Jason Moran

IN MY MIND: Monk at Town Hall 1959

Moran’s concert is the world premiere of an ambitious evening-length multi-media performance

for tentet commissioned by Duke Performance and the Center for Documentary Studies, Jazz at

Symphony Center/Chicago, SFJAZZ, and Washington Performing Arts Society. IN MY MIND is

based on W. Eugene Smith’s recordings and photos of Monk and Hall Overton as well as

Moran’s 2007 pilgrimage to Monk’s ancestral home in North Carolina.

$38 • $30 • $22 • $5*

IN MY MIND uses archival materials courtesy of the W. Eugene Smith Archive at the Center for Creative Photography

at the University of Arizona, the Heirs of W. Eugene Smith, and the Jazz Loft Project at The Center for Documentary

Studies at Duke University.

Sunday • 10/28/07, 7:30 pm • Nelson Music Room

Barry Harris

Solo Piano Concert: Professor Bebop

Harris, the musician who lived in the same apartment (that of the Baroness Pannonica de

Koenigswater in Weehawken, New Jersey) with Monk during Monk’s reclusive final years and

was as close to him as any other musician, presents a unique solo recital.

$20 • $5*

[brownie]

The photo of Monk that illustrates the Duke University story was taken by Eugene W. Smith.

This other W. Eugene Smith photo showing Monk and musicians (including Phil Woods) during a rehearsal of music for the famous February1959 Town Hall concert will also be part of the show.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

Good gravy there's a lot of interesting stuff!!!

I'm contemplating taking a leave of absence from work and crashing in a student group house for the whole season!

[.:.impossible]

Thanks for the heads up on this. Costly, but I think I'd be interested in a couple of these.

[Chuck Nessa]

Should have done this when he was alive. Now is time for a Taylor, Shorter, Mitchell, Hancock, Abrams, Braxton, etc festivals. Universities are great at celebrating the dead but don't do much for the living. "Value judgements" are easier when the subject isn't around to screw things up.

Thsi stuff makes my skin crawl.

[marcello]

Jason Moran has some interesting things to say via Monk.

[Chuck Nessa]

Time for some school to spend a couple of years assembling a Threadgill fest.

[Guy Berger]

Should have done this when he was alive. Now is time for a Taylor, Shorter, Mitchell, Hancock, Abrams, Braxton, etc festivals. Universities are great at celebrating the dead but don't do much for the living.

I agree, but this is better than nothing.

Guy