Monk Monk Monk

[Al in NYC]

MONK

[JazzAt52ndStreet]

Amen to that!

[bostontricky]

[Noj]

My first Monk...

[bostontricky]

[bostontricky]

[jaka]

[john williams]

[jaka]

More seriously and definitely my favorite

[Ron Thorne]

I'd be remiss if I didn't post this. A very interesting character and superb artist, William Spear, lives in our capital city of Juneau. He also happens to be a Monk fan, thus he's designed this fine cloisonne pin ...



I've purchased several, one for me, and as gifts.

[john williams]

Yes, its great isn't it Jaka?

Nice Pin Ron, I might by one myself at that very reasonable price.

[jaka]

Originally Posted by JBW

Yes, its great isn't it Jaka?

It happens to be the recording I always end up playing when staring at the CD racks unable to decide what to play (yes, that happens).
Whatever the time, whatever the mood, a wonderful listening time assured.

[Pete C]

Here's my lyric for "Think of One":

I met a man the other day
With a parrot perched upon his head
The man just stood while the parrot spoke
And this is what he said:

"Talk is cheap and cheep is talk
When you're talkin' to a bird,
So don't be be cheap, just go to sleep
And dream a thousand words.

Language can be your salvation,
It also can be your demise,
So talk your little heads off
And you will get a big surprise.

And now it's time for me to fly
To a place where golden silence reigns,
I'll leave you guys to theorize
And pick each others brains."

[bostontricky]

Jon Hendricks' lyrics for "In Walked Bud".

Dizzie, he was screaming
Next to Opie who was beaming
Monk a thumping
Suddenly in walks Bud and then they got down to somethin'

Oscar played a mean sax
Mr. Byers threw a mean axe
Monk a thumping
Suddenly in walks Bud
And then the joint started jumping

Every young stud really dug Bud
Soothing his tone, talking that note
Nobody wrote, putting it down

Dizzie he was screaming
Next to Opie who was beaming
Monk a thumping
Suddenly in walks Bud
And then they got down to something

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by bostontricky

Next to Opie who was beaming

Not Opie,


O.P.!



Also, I'll bet it's Byas, not Byers. More likely Don Byas than the trombonist Billy Byers.

[bostontricky]

Spot on, as always, Mr. C. I just blindly grabbed the first set of lyrics I saw...

- - -

Another Monk:

[Gentle Giant]

Even as I type, I'm listening to Ran Blake's Epistrophy, a solo piano survey of the Monk landscape. Heard some of it during the recent Ran Blake Orgy on WHRB, and I had to hear more. These guys are definitely kindred spirits. Blake expertly captures and conveys the minimalist magic inside those deceptively clever compositions.

Dig the film Straight No Chaser, too.

[clinthopson]

Count me amongst the Monkophiles.

We are legion.

[stonemonkts]

Me too.

Monk has been just like a very dear wise old friend. As reliable as anyone I've ever encountered. I'm never disappointed. Always pleased to hear him. He always makes me smile.

[gnhrtg]

Monk, is it. Always makes me smile, never fails to get my feet tapping.

[gnhrtg]

We could, perhaps, use some quotes here. My favorite, if I'm not misattributing it, is: "It's always dark, that's why there's light."

[Underhound]

Is anyone here able to explain in words what exactly Monk was doing on the piano enabled him to make ugly notes sound like they belong?

I once heard someone suggest that he often tend to play the half step above and half step below in order to "imply" the note in the middle. I'm not sure I buy that. Any thoughts?



Oh, and here's my contribution to the Monk gallery.

[Chris D]

From Terry Adams' liner notes to "Always Know":

The Village Vanguard was packed with people waiting to hear Thelonious Monk. By the time I got there, the only seats left were the chairs lined up against the wall on stage. That night, the tenor saxophonist in the Quartet was Pat Patrick, a friend of mine from Sun Ra's Arkestra. He was sitting next to me with horn in hand waiting for the leader.

After about ten minutes, we saw Thelonious across the room, wasting no time heading for the stage. As he was passing us to hang up his coat, Pat gave him the familiar greeting, "Hey, what's happenin'?"

"Everything is happening all the time" Monk said, continuing his forward motion toward the closet behind the drums. Then, turning around with raised index finger, he added "every googleplexth of a second!"

[gnhrtg]

Originally Posted by Underhound

Is anyone here able to explain in words what exactly Monk was doing on the piano enabled him to make ugly notes sound like they belong?

I once heard someone suggest that he often tend to play the half step above and half step below in order to "imply" the note in the middle. I'm not sure I buy that. Any thoughts?

I'm not able to explain, let alone have a grasp on, the one thing that Monk does. Following, however, are some thoughts.

I would not agree with what that someone suggested. "Conviction" comes as close to it without having to sit together and listen to a tune analyze his solo. When he plays an "ugly" note, he would also build the subsequent phrases around that one note. If it's the particular scale you're interested in, a lot of what he's playing comes off the whole-tone scale. Again, the one thing is about the strength of phrasing - if you play for some time half a step up/down, or a tritone away from the root of a chord or tone of a progression, it would sound "wrong" when you first move back, provided that there's some logic to what you're playing outside so that it's that logic and phrasing that carries your solo and not how "pretty" the notes sound.

[Dr Dave]

Speaking of "In Walked Bud"...

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by Underhound

Is anyone here able to explain in words what exactly Monk was doing on the piano enabled him to make ugly notes sound like they belong?

If they sound like they belong they ain't ugly, right?

Along those lines, an interviewer once commented to Monk that it was amazing how he would make the "wrong notes" sound like they fit, or something like that, and Monk replied, "There ain't no wrong notes on the piano."

Originally Posted by bostontricky

My sons favorite Monk album. whenever we get to working around the house, I'll ask him what he wants to listen to, and he'll say "Monk In Tokyo disc 1".

He can actually hum along to many of Rouse's solo's!!!! And yes, I'm talking note for note. Not bad for a four year old.

[Underhound]

Picked this book up recently in order to fulfill a longtime dream, which was to be able to play "Pannonica" on guitar.


And "Ugly Beauty" and so on ...

[Stuckinagroove]

Thats a fantastic book. They have the most accurate transcriptions I've seen. They also do a good job explaining the quirks in all his compositions.

Eric Reed does one of the most impressive Monk impressions I've ever heard.

He even resembles Monk physically.






















Wow! Mark this as the most pointless posts ever made.