Still Under The Spell Of Thelonious Monk
MP3
Bright Mississippi
Thelonious Monk Quartet Live at Monterey Jazz Fest[val 1963
Listen to the bassist (John Ore). He is performing his finest solo ever, has kind of an amorous embrace with the drummer (no, its not Art Blakey playing, one of Monks favourite drummers, but Frank Dunlop, who delivers in his rythmic shifts a certain brusque bite to the beat.) The two musicians Ore and Dunlop are like pumpkin and carrot blended and mixed in a natural color of joy, lifting the listeners up into a state of desire for harmony, perhaps tempted to perform a few shuffling dance steps.
Great memorable live recording – Celebrating Freedom of Jazz
Its just wonderful how this quartet format works for Monk, each musician keeps his own inventive totally personal way of playing but they are perfectly integrated in the melodies and tunes Monk composed. They play together with as much pleasure as inspiration and are always in tune with the many harmonic turns, celebrating the freedom of jazz.
Monkification Tongue in Cheek
The live recording with the spontanuous applauding audience makes it special, it has indeed a very bright feeling, its warm, the tempo is cheerfully up, has a good humour, it swings like the song Sweet Georgia Brown, which Monk with his rythmic surprises recasted tongue in cheek. No lyrics applied like in the original song. Monk didn’t need words.
check it out: a little bit more monk in the house >>>