Live The Thelonious Monk Quartet

Excellent Monk concert from his well-documented 1961 European Tour. The sound is very good and Monk is in very good form. The bonus tracks were recorded for TV in Bussum; April 1961. There is a low quality video copy of part of this that circulates among collectors, but it is nice to have it in a much more complete audio format as presented here. Huge thanks to the Dutch Archives for releasing this vintage Monk!

In 1961, Thelonious Monk and his quartet toured Europe, producing a series of live albums for various labels. The First European Concert, as well as recordings of Monk in Paris, Italy, Bern, Copenhagen, and Stockholm all date from that year. The performances drew almost exclusively from a body of the pianist’s best-loved original material, and Monk in France is no exception. While his playing here is less energized than it can be, Monk’s singular philosophy is well intact. The pianist’s lines are sparse and fluid. Characteristically, he maps out only the necessary notes in his off-kilter melodies, building solos from perfectly balanced melodic/rhythmic motifs. ~ AllMusic

Miles Davis - European Tour '56 with The Modern Jazz Quartet & Lester Young (2006) {Definitive DRCD11294}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 257 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 161 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 176 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1956, 2006 Definitive Records / Disconforme | DRCD11294
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Cool / Trumpet

This fascinating release comprises live recordings made at the end of 1956, when Miles accepted an offer to tour Europe with a formation called the Birdland All Stars, which also included Lester Young and the Modern Jazz Quartet, along with European musicians such as pianist René Urtréger, bassist Pierre Michelot and drummer Christian Garros. We have here the one and only existing evidence of Miles playing with Lester Young and with the MJQ. It also presents a rare occasion to find Miles playing as the sole horn in a quartet format.

Thelonious Monk - San Francisco Holiday (1992) {Milestone MCD-9199-2 rec 1958-1961}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 417 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 165 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 10 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1958-61, 1992 Milestone Records / Fantasy / Universal | MCD-9199-2 / 0025218919920
Jazz / Bop / Post Bop / Piano

Previously unavailable these tracks, gathered together from four different concert sources, are collected here for the first time on one CD. The first cuts, from a '59 show at New York City's Town Hall, feature extremely energetic performances on three of Monk's best known pieces: "In Walked Bud," "Blue Monk" and "Rhythm-a-Ning" (with a tremendous tenor sax solo by Charlie Rouse, fragmented, lyrical keyboard essays by Monk and a fine, layered solo by beatkeeper Arthur Taylor).

With this recording, Joshua Redman attempts a long-form composition for the first time, a series of eight numbers that form a cycle of sorts. The promotional buzz claimed that Redman was taking stock of his music ten years after winning the Thelonious Monk competition, the event that had the effect of launching him full-blown into the big time. Whether or not that's true, there is a predominantly reflective, thoughtful tone about this quartet session, split between written-out passages and flat-out improvisations.

The Jazz Baroness tells the moving story of Pannonica Rothschild (‘Nica’ for short) and her great love for the jazz pianist-composer Thelonious Monk. Directed by Nica’s great-niece, Hannah Rothschild, the documentary features the voice of Oscar winner Helen Mirren who reads Nica’s words. Shown as part of the BBC’s Storyville season, on HBO and at international film festivals, The Jazz Baroness will be released on DVD by 3DD Productions on 30th April 2012.