round midnight52nd st. themebye yamisteriosoruby my dearin walked budbemsha swingepistrophycrepescule for nelliestraight no chaser
funny that monk didn't actually write all that many songs, compared to a lot of the other big jazz composers. but pretty much each one is classic.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 18 May 2011 14:54 (twelve years ago) link
isn't it the case he didn't write a lot of stuff down? kinda makes sense when you think about his style and the odd rhythmic accents and stuff
― Crackle Box, Wednesday, 18 May 2011 15:01 (twelve years ago) link
Think denzil best said he wrote "bemsha swing."
― bamcquern, Wednesday, 18 May 2011 16:48 (twelve years ago) link
Officially, "Bemsha Swing" is co-written by Monk and Best, and probably was genuinely from both of them (unlike Cootie Williams' non-contribution to "'Round Midnight").
― Dodo Lurker (Slim and Slam), Thursday, 19 May 2011 00:23 (twelve years ago) link
Friday The Thirteenth just absolutely burns.
― xelab, Thursday, 18 June 2015 20:50 (eight years ago) link
got to also be a mention of Bright Mississippi and Blues Five Spot on this thread.
― xelab, Thursday, 18 June 2015 21:07 (eight years ago) link
The three that have crept up on me over the years and become ones I really enjoy and look for are
Coming on the HudsonJackie-ingLight Blue
― Brakhage, Saturday, 20 June 2015 01:15 (eight years ago) link
http://wbgo.org/post/five-new-tributes-thelonious-monk-great-composer-and-pianists-centennial#stream/0
5 tributes to the Monk Centennial.
― calzino, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 10:37 (six years ago) link
The Wadada solo one is really beautiful.
― calzino, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 11:44 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJBXrdXXelQ
I'm kind of obsessed lately with this slower tempo, loose, almost cecil taylor-esque Epistrophy
― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Thursday, 19 July 2018 21:08 (five years ago) link
last night we were spinning "big band and quartet in concert" (columbia, '64) at the record store. my friend turned to me while "evidence" was playing and said: "you know what tune this is based on ? well, i'll give you a hint: evidence meant JUSTICE to monk." i scratched my head and couldn't come up with it. turns out it's based on "just you, just me" which i guess isn't some big secret but it was news to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IticEUGZSg4from "marianne" (1929)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qweSlfP6BtIquartet, live in japan '63
― budo jeru, Sunday, 5 January 2020 18:14 (four years ago) link
Wow, that bullfrog thing that Charlie Rouse does with his neck is pretty impressive (skip to 1:42 to really see it in action).
Anyway, I listened to both songs and couldn't hear the same melodic material, but wikipedia set me straight:"Thelonious Monk's 1948 composition, "Evidence", is a contrafact of "Just You, Just Me".[3] Monk's tune was originally called "Justice" (which sounds like "Just Us", a reference to "Just You, Just Me"), then renamed "We Named It Justice", and finally "Evidence".[2] Both songs are included in Monk's 1964 live album, Live at the It Club."(i.e. new melody over the existing progression)
― enochroot, Sunday, 5 January 2020 22:36 (four years ago) link
So a new live recording of Monk at Palo Alto High School in 1968 just surfaced. It was all set to be released on Impulse! but got pulled at the last minute owing to a disagreement between the label and the Monk estate. But here's the fun part: some copies had already been shipped to Europe on both LP and CD and put on sale, thereby creating an instant rarity. As of now the LP seems to be sold out everywhere but Amazon UK still has copies of the CD.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Sunday, 30 August 2020 16:11 (three years ago) link
this has gotta be the hardest pox thread ever
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 16:51 (three years ago) link
the genius of modern music vols 1 + 2 is all I need to sustain me today.
― calzino, Wednesday, 9 September 2020 09:03 (three years ago) link
it's decent is Palo Alto but not as good as that lost soundtrack to Les Liaisons Dangereuses that emerged a couple of years ago, but saying that just about anything with Monk on is good.
― calzino, Wednesday, 9 September 2020 09:12 (three years ago) link
103 today. Apparently WKCR FM are playing him all day.
― calzino, Saturday, 10 October 2020 21:17 (three years ago) link