The Best of the Blue Note Years (CD)

Thelonious Monk, underappreciated at the beginning of his career in the 1940s, was eventually recognized as one of the most brilliant figures in modern jazz, with a piano and compositional style that began in a classic stride and then veered off, gloriously, into the stratosphere. In contrast to the more athletic exploits of many beboppers, Monk's idiosyncratic playing was filled with stark contrasts of rhythm, space, and harmony, as if he were carefully unveiling some ancient wisdom. His death in 1982 left a void in jazz that could never be filled. However, Monk's songs live on in his remarkable recordings, and his influence is continually present in the work of hundreds of contemporary musicians.

• Category:  Music  »  Jazz  »  Piano
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: March 26, 1991
• Label: Blue Note Records (USA)
• UPC: 077779563623
• WAPI (Tower ID): 106718480
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• Tower.com Sales Rank: #11613 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #574 in Jazz (See Top 100 Jazz Bestsellers)
• #69 in Piano (See Top 100 Piano Bestsellers)

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Personnel: Thelonious Monk (piano); Lou Donaldson, Sahib Shihab, Danny Quebec West (alto saxophone); Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone); George Taitt, Idrees Sulieman, Kenny Dorham (trumpet); Milt Jackson (vibraphone); Al McKibbon, John Simmons, Bob Paige, Gene Ramey (bass); Shadow Wilson, Max Roach, Art Blakey (drums).

Producer: Alfred Lion.

Compilation producer: Michael Cuscuna.

Recorded at Apex & WOR Studios, New York, New York between 1947 and 1952.

Digitally remastered by Ron McMaster.

So many of the tunes that virtually define Thelonious Monk's career were recordings for Blue Note. "Ruby My Dear," "Well You Needn't," "In Walked Bud," "Straight No Chaser" and other classics are compositions Monk would continue to revisit and explore throughout his career. The nature of Monk's composing and the brevity of the takes (all were recorded for release on 78's; the longest cut clocks in at under three-and-a-half minutes in length) make it clear that these recording sessions were not only about blowing and technical prowess; Monk's experiments take hold in a short span of time. Monk's peers ran the bebop revolution, but where they were content to rewrite the melodic contours of jazz, Monk seemed determined to rethink every dimension of the small ensemble. In these recordings, Monk outlines his ideas on tape.

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