POX: Thelonious Monk compositions

Yes, there are other Monk threads out there, but they seem to focus on the recordings rather than the compositions.

My ten:
Ask Me Now
Brilliant Corners
Evidence
Four in One
In Walked Bud
Little Rootie Tootie
Misterioso
Monk's Mood
Straight, No Chaser
Well You Needn't

Round Midnight
Evidence
Let's Cool One
Who Knows
Straight, No chaser
Thelonious
Friday the Thiteenth

That's as far as I can get off the top of my head. Way more familiar with Steve Lacy playing Monk tunes than Monk himself tbh which is something I need to rectify.

without repeating -

rhythm-a-ning
bemsha swing
green chimneys
epistrophy

round midnight
52nd st. theme
bye ya
misterioso
ruby my dear
in walked bud
bemsha swing
epistrophy
crepescule for nellie
straight 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.

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

Think denzil best said he wrote "bemsha swing."

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").

Friday The Thirteenth just absolutely burns.

got to also be a mention of Bright Mississippi and Blues Five Spot on this thread.

The three that have crept up on me over the years and become ones I really enjoy and look for are

Coming on the Hudson
Jackie-ing
Light Blue

http://wbgo.org/post/five-new-tributes-thelonious-monk-great-composer-and-pianists-centennial#stream/0

5 tributes to the Monk Centennial.

The Wadada solo one is really beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJBXrdXXelQ

I'm kind of obsessed lately with this slower tempo, loose, almost cecil taylor-esque Epistrophy

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=IticEUGZSg4
from "marianne" (1929)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qweSlfP6BtI
quartet, live in japan '63

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)

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.

this has gotta be the hardest pox thread ever

the genius of modern music vols 1 + 2 is all I need to sustain me today.

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.

103 today. Apparently WKCR FM are playing him all day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxYlhw0A0wo

Miles Okazaki has recorded all of Monk's compositions on solo guitar and will be performing them all in NYC next month.

Happy Friday the 13th -
Save a date - I’ll be playing the complete works of Thelonious Monk on solo guitar @TheJazzGallery on Oct 16th in four sets, and again on Oct 18th. pic.twitter.com/wuTycgqrDe

— Miles Okazaki (@milesokazaki) September 13, 2024