“The Score” 8/9/10 – Thelonious Monk
Posted on | August 11, 2010 | 3 Comments
Well as some of you may have noticed, I have a new show on Portland’s Jazz Radio station, KMHD 89.1! It’s called “The Score” and it airs every Monday night from 7-9 PM (Pacific Time of course). You can stream it live on the KMHD website every week. The show’s theme is jazz composers, and each week I feature a different composer or theme, looking at the composers’ own interpretation of their works as well as their legacy and subsequent recordings of their compositions. I’m going to start to integrate the show with this blog, posting my playlist each week as well as some observations to go along with the show!
The debut show was last Monday 8/9, and I figured it would be a great place to start to check out one of the most often recorded composers in jazz history, the great Thelonious Monk. Though he only wrote about 70 compositions, they had a really disproportionately large impact on subsequent musicians and he is apparently the 2nd most recorded composer in jazz after Ellington.
For the show this week, I featured a wide variety of interpretations, mostly by pianists, of Monk’s music, along with some classic tracks by his ensembles. Here’s the playlist [Artist - Song (Album)]:
Thelonious Monk – Blue Monk (Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall)
Milt Jackson – Epistrophy (Wizard of the Vibes)
Steve Lacy – Skippy (Reflections)
Thelonious Monk – Round Midnight (Piano Solo)
Dollar Brand – Crepescule with Nellie (Dollar Brand at SABC 1969 Sessions)
Danilo Perez – Bright Mississippi (PanaMonk)
Misha Mengelberg – Four in One (Four in One)
Fred Hersch – Bemsha Swing (Fred Hersch Trio Live at the Village Vanguard)
Jaki Byard – Evidence (The Jaki Byard Experience)
Larry Young – Monk’s Dream (Unity)
Brad Mehldau – Monk’s Dream (Live in Tokyo)
Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners (Brilliant Corners)
Thelonious Monk – I Mean You (Big Band and Quartet in Concert)
Bill Frisell – Misterioso (Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, Paul Motian)
Garage A Trois – We See (Emphasizer)
Steve Lacy – Reflections (Reflections)
Thelonious Monk - Well You Needn’t (Live at the It Club)
A couple reflections on the show: Firstly, listening again to all these tracks reminded me of just how much Monk’s compositions influence the people playing them, and not just pianists. The two “Monk’s Dream”s in a row were intended to illustrate how two very different musicians still took thematic material from the tune and integrated it really strongly into their improvisations. I got to noticing during the show how much horn players tend to work off the little motifs in Monk’s melodies almost more than pianists in some ways. Pianists, I feel, often are subject to some weird subconscious effect whereby they attempt to phrase like Monk when playing his tunes, whether or not they do it on purpose. Indeed, I find myself doing this from time to time as well. However, it is interesting to note how some of the “great Monk interpreters,” especially Fred Hersch, approach the tunes from a totally different perspective, integrating them into their own style more fully than many pianists I’ve heard.
I also was reminded how awesome Steve Lacy is, even this early album (“Reflections”) has many fantastic moments by him and the whole band, especially Mal Waldron. Check it out if you have the chance. I was also glad to feature “The Jaki Byard Experience” which is hands down one of the most ballsy and swingin’ things ever recorded, with Rashaan Roland Kirk tearing it up and Tony Williams’ teacher Alan Dawson smoking on drums. Also a must-hear.
I’m very excited about this show and glad to finally get to indulge my childhood fancy of being on the radio! Next week I’ll be featuring Gershwin tunes, should be a very different but fun journey. Hope you can tune in next Monday from 7-9 and I’ll keep posting ruminations and playlists here. Cheers!
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3 Responses to ““The Score” 8/9/10 – Thelonious Monk”
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August 11th, 2010 @ 11:13 pm
Sorry I missed your show, but since it’s right before Tim D’s hopefully I’ll catch it soon. How do you feel about the Hal Wilner compilled Monk trib album That’s the way I Feel Now?
August 16th, 2010 @ 1:13 am
heck yes. lovin it.
August 16th, 2010 @ 9:19 am
Hey Dana, I haven’t heard that one but will check it out for sure! Thanks for the suggestion.
Andrew