What are some good 'solo' Thelonious Monk albums?

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What are some good 'solo' Thelonious Monk albums? I hate to admit it, but I don't enjoy the quartet stuff so much, mostly because of Charlie Rouse. What's the swinginest, craziest, bee-boppinest, most broken and genius SOLO Monk stuff?

― Chemical Romance, Friday, 20 May 2005 02:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I love his solo version of "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" on 'Straight, No Chaser.'

'Thelonious Himself' and 'Alone in San Francisco' are aces, too. The CD version of the former has a 20-minute-or-so bonus track of his rehearsing "Round Midnight."

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 20 May 2005 02:13 (twenty-one years ago)

"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" should be on 'Monk Alone,' which is all the solo stuff he cut for Columbia, I believe.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 20 May 2005 02:13 (twenty-one years ago)

You do know there's tons of other band stuff pre-Rouse? Get a collection of the Blue Note stuff, or 'Misterioso' with Johnny Griffin, or the Monk/Coltrane studio album.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 20 May 2005 02:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I was just gonna say...

If you don't enjoy the quartet with Charlie Rouse, there are lots of other group recordings that are still very much worth checking out. IMHO, the Rouse/Riley/Gales quartet IS kinda boring, all sounds the same, and features Monk past his prime. I recommend Monk's Music, Live at the Blackhawk, At the Five Spot, Thelonious in Action, Brilliant Corners, Monk w/Jazz Messengers.

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 20 May 2005 02:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I like Rouse a lot, but I think maybe the peak of his collaborations with saxaphonists were with Sonny Rollins. Not that there's a goddamn thing wrong with the solo piano stuff. A lot of it is on the albums Hurting mentions.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 20 May 2005 02:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Dar, I mean a lot of the stuff with Sonny Rollins is on those albums...

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 20 May 2005 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh God, and the Thelonious Monk Trio record. Ugly-as-sin black, white and blue cover, just gives 'Thelonious Monk' as the title. One of my favorite records by him.

For solo stuff, lotta people swear by the 1954 Paris sessions, too.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 20 May 2005 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)

In the other direction, my favorite album of his is Thelonious Monk Orchestra: At Town Hall. Rouse is on it but between him and the rest I defy anyone to find better solos pound for pound on any Monk record, I daresay any record ever! The 'hot' numbers have a more conventional sense of swing than usual which actually refreshes some of the material, and the ballads are killer and surprisingly intimate(w/o schmaltz)to the point of being depressive(gorgeously so). One of my very favorite albums, I have no idea why it has such a low profile(finally came out on cd a few years ago too).

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Friday, 20 May 2005 03:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I have this & love it:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf200/f296/f29666zhy8t.jpg

(great cover too)

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 20 May 2005 03:06 (twenty-one years ago)

you really want monk alone, two cds of all the solo tracks he cut at columbia, which would pop up one or two per album. it may be my favorite album for walking through central park in a mist or at dusk.

― Beta (abeta), Friday, 20 May 2005 04:00 (twenty-one years ago)

if monk with rouse is boring (?!) he's boring like house is boring

― Josh (Josh), Friday, 20 May 2005 06:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I have to say I have a lot of time for the Columbia stuff, autopilot or no. Some nice sleeves there, too.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 20 May 2005 08:07 (twenty-one years ago)

If Chemical Romance hasn't seen the "Straight, No Chaser" documentary, I'd recommend it heavily. Seeing Monk's onstage demeanor and his keyboard attack was revelatory to me.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 20 May 2005 08:08 (twenty-one years ago)

There's also nice Monk footage in "Jazz on a Summer's Day," but only a couple of minutes.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 20 May 2005 08:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I have everything the man did solo and Thelonious Himself is my favorite -- so intimate it's like listening to Monk's private thoughts. But get the JVC version, which has superior sound. A tad pricy, but worth it.
Everything he did for Riverside, Prestige and Blue Note (pre-Rouse) is great.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Friday, 20 May 2005 09:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll third (or fourth) Thelonious Himself just because I love how the sax and bass come in so smoothly on the last track and really give the album an extra dimension as a whole.

I don't like Alone in S.F. much (compared to other Monk albums). I don't think the sound is good, and I just don't feel that he's really into it.

I'll add that I have the first volume of the Black Lion London Collection and I really, really enjoy that one. Great versions of "Meet Me in Dreamland" and "My Melancholy Baby".

― theophilus jones (theophilus), Friday, 20 May 2005 12:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree about Rouse. I have to admit I was pretty unimpressed by the very handsome-looking box set for the Columbia Years stuff - I bought it for the extended versions of stuff from Underground and whatnot, but it's not something I play a lot. The best stuff on there is the trio stuff - but there's only like three of those, and one is the awful "In Walked Bud," if I'm not mistaken.

To be honest, I have a bunch of Thelonious albums, but I, too, am actually still searching for a 'perfect' album. I like them all, but when I'm fiending for a Monk fix, to be totally honest, I usually just grab the Straight No Chaser DVD and my day immediately gets better. Maybe I oughta just buy the soundtrack...

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Saturday, 21 May 2005 00:53 (twenty-one years ago)

It's not that I don't like the late quartet at all -- I just feel like there's way too much material that sounds similar. If they distilled all the best into one or two albums it'd be pretty good.

I also really like Monk's Dream, which I think is the same group except with Frankie Dunlop on drums instead of Ben Riley.

― Hurting (Hurting), Saturday, 21 May 2005 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)

My two favorite Monk albums are Thelonious Himself and Brilliant Corners.

― mcd (mcd), Saturday, 21 May 2005 00:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm totally buying Thelonious Himself

Brilliant Corners is a very nice record - but unfortunately, it's still way too 'straight' to my ears - I got into jazz totally backwards - starting with ESP / BYG - it's so hard for me to get into anything (especially DRUMMING) that isn't INTENSE. In fact, Monk is pretty much one of only about ten exceptions (Miles, Charlie Parker, etc) to that admittedly dumb rule.

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Saturday, 21 May 2005 01:19 (twenty-one years ago)

MONK ALONE!
seriously.

― Beta (abeta), Saturday, 21 May 2005 01:37 (twenty-one years ago)

It seems to me that in group settings, Monk without horns is almost always better than with. It forces him to actually play (or something). Ricky Wright OTM about that Prestige trio album, it's great (no horns!), and the Riverside solo lps are too. Even on Blue Note, the sax-less tracks are usually my favorites (like "Misterioso").

― Burr (Burr), Saturday, 21 May 2005 02:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Rouse is just fine. I don't know of a really bad Monk album. The "Always Know" comp, which came out on LP a while back, is great '60s stuff, fine version of "Coming on the Hudson." I think it's been repackaged as a CD with other tracks, too.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Saturday, 21 May 2005 11:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah I don't get the Rouse-hate either. Criss-Cross and Monk's Dream rank right up there w/his best, and the reissued Underground is worth a check. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers w/Thelonious Monk on Atlantic is good but poorly recorded IMO (on LP never heard the CD).

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Saturday, 21 May 2005 12:41 (twenty-one years ago)

if there were no horns then you wouldn't ever get to hear monk's comping, surely one of the best things ever.

― Josh (Josh), Saturday, 21 May 2005 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

"Poorly recorded"? Tom Dowd?

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 21 May 2005 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Hm. Okay, I might be, er, missing something (i mean, you'd think someone else might have mentioned this), but what about Solo Monk?? It's one of my fave jazz records, period. I'm going to check out Monk Alone now, too.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Saturday, 21 May 2005 21:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Poortheatre OTM about Solo Monk.
Monk Alone is an amazing two disc set and not a bad way to rope in NEW monk converts.
Both albums are must haves.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Saturday, 21 May 2005 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

*"Poorly recorded"? Tom Dowd?**

yeah that's absurd but check it out, you can barely HEAR the piano. It's a live date IIRC, so Tom Dowd's studio prowess still stands.

Solo Monk roolz IMO but many fans downplay the Columbia years.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Sunday, 22 May 2005 10:18 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

i think its monks 90th anniversary? good story on monk/his hometown on all things considered this afternoon.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15130418

― artdamages, Wednesday, 10 October 2007 21:28 (eighteen years ago)

Thanks for that. Does anyone have any idea whatever happened to the Monk biography Peter Keepnews was reportedly writing back in the late '90s?

― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Thursday, 11 October 2007 08:40 (eighteen years ago)

nine years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9p_XWyMBJk
this is just...

― calzino, Friday, 10 March 2017 00:12 (nine years ago)

six months pass...

https://i.imgur.com/P41IA7B.png

So lonious.

― mick signals, Monday, 18 September 2017 01:02 (eight years ago)

a reprise of a classic

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-spinoffs-mtvvjs25jul25-htmlstory.html

Tabitha Soren
Joining the tireless Kurt Loder as the second face of MTV News, Soren performed her duties with a healthy sense of red-haired gravitas. However, she may be best known for her 1992 interview with Bill Clinton where she asked the candidate on a "Choose or Lose" special, "Who's your favorite musician?" When Clinton replied, "Thelonious Monk," Soren responded, "Who's the loneliest monk?"

― the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), Monday, 18 September 2017 01:51 (eight years ago)

seven years pass...

This film is painful to watch at times but the performance is undeniable.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/behind-the-scenes-with-thelonious-monk-in-rewind-and-play

― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 1 April 2025 21:17 (one year ago)

Wow, fascinating. I remember reading about that in the Kelly book, I bet he's itching to do a new edition now.

― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Tuesday, 1 April 2025 21:37 (one year ago)

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