What are some good 'solo' Thelonious Monk albums?

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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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

"Poorly recorded"? Tom Dowd?

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 21 May 2005 20:52 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (eighteen years ago) link

*"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 (eighteen years ago) link

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 (sixteen years ago) link

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 (sixteen years ago) link

nine years pass...

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

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

six months pass...

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

So lonious.

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

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 (six years ago) link

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