"bags' groove"

There are a multitude of reasons why Bags' Groove remains a cornerstone of the post-bop genre. Of course there will always be the lure of the urban myth surrounding the Christmas Eve 1954 session -- featuring Thelonious Monk -- which is documented on the two takes of the title track.

WTF? "urban myth"?

ha. is it the thing about miles asking monk not to play behind him?

miles was fucking harsh.

i read today that he and coltrane were having an argument about solo length. miles said that trane's were too long, and trane replied that he didn't know how to finish. and miles said "why don't you try taking the saxophone out of your mouth".

Yeah, Miles was uberharsh.

And I would suggest maybe not wrong in Monk's case but definitely wrong in Trane's case.

i disagree

so is that the urban myth?

because it sounds like maybe something better than that (and anyway the monk/davis antipathy thing comes up later in the review)

i disagree

― Jordan

I'm not suggesting that Monk isn't awesome, just that his playing is too much behind Miles, who needs the space of him laying off to work most effectively (and in fact I prefer Monk in a solo setting, or failing that trio setting). Although of course you might also disagree with that.

the myth, i think, is that miles and monk almost came to blows during the session. which miles -- in his somewhat unreliable autobigraphy -- says wasn't the case. awesome session, anyway.

nah i meant i disagree about the coltrane thing.

Ah, right. I still disagree then but not as much as I thought I did.

I don't think Monk would be a bad accompanist if he played behind a trumpeter or saxoponist version of himself, y'know? It's just that his style was so unorthodox that it sticks out like a sore thumb behind someone's solo.

miles was about economy and he was in charge of the band. coltrane was taking really really long solos, longer than the rest of the band and it was annoying the rest of the band. miles zinged him good and otm