This release has long been considered Thelonious Monk's acknowledgement to the flourishing youth-oriented subculture from whence the collection takes its name. Certainly the Grammy-winning cover art - which depicts Monk as a World War II French revolutionary toting an automatic weapon - gave the establishment more than the brilliant swinging sounds in the grooves to consider. Underground became Monk's penultimate studio album, as well as the final release to feature the '60s quartet: Charlie Rouse (tenor sax), Ben Riley (drums), and Larry Gales (bass) behind Monk (piano). One of the motifs running throughout Monk's recording career is the revisitation of titles from his voluminous back catalog. The tradition continues with the autobiographical leadoff track, "Thelonious"…
Although Brilliant Corners is Thelonious Monk's third disc for Riverside, it's the first on the label to weigh in with such heavy original material. Enthusiasts who become jaded to the idiosyncratic nature of Monk's playing or his practically arithmetical chord progressions should occasionally revisit Brilliant Corners. There is an inescapable freshness and vitality saturated into every measure of every song. The passage of time makes it all the more difficult to imagine any other musicians bearing the capacity to support Monk with such ironic precision. The assembled quartet for the lion's share of the sessions included Max Roach (percussion), Sonny Rollins (tenor sax), Oscar Pettiford (bass), and Ernie Henry (alto sax)…
Even before the first note is played, the apocrypha proclaiming this to be a non-professional recording - which finds Naima Coltrane (John Coltrane's wife) as "audio engineer" - is fortunately true. The raw nature of the contents accurately reveal the reality of experiencing a Five Spot gig during the venerable venue's halcyon days. What can also be found beyond the sporadic chatter and general hubbub of a New York City Harlem nightclub is arguably the strongest aural evidence of the unique working rapport these jazz icons shared. While the relationship between Monk and Coltrane is the crux of these performances, Ahmed Abdul-Malik (bass) and the irrepressible Roy Haynes (drums) also contribute mightily by allowing enough context to support the soloist while pulling out occasional solos of their own. Haynes' interjections to "In Walked Bud" and "I Mean You" go beyond the simple progression of rhythm…
With his odd rhythmic spacing, discordant resolves and his circular yet angular compositional style, Thelonious Monk remains one of the most singular figures in all of jazz, and virtually every one of his recordings is as enigmatic as the pianist himself was. This set combines his five albums for Columbia Records, 1962's Criss Cross and Monk's Dream, 1964's Solo Monk, 1966's Straight, No Chaser, and 1967's Underground, in a single package, and anyone thinking Monk wasn't as vital during those years really needs to hear this stuff. It's classic Monk, and this collection is a great way to get it in a single swoop.
Thelonious Monk was having a rough time of it during the latter 1960s. Experiencing health and some economic problems, he was also in dispute with Columbia Records, whose marketing department was trying to re-create him in the image of a rock star (see the cover of Underground). On top of this, he had lost his core rhythm section, bassist Larry Gales and drummer Ben Riley. For his eighth European tour, the pianist hired young, unknown players as accompanists for himself and saxophonist Charlie Rouse: Berklee music school student Nate "Lloyd" Hygelund on bass and 17-year-old drummer Paris Wright - son of bassist Herman Wright. This date was recorded on the last night of the tour at the 3,800 seat Salle Pleyel (the same theater in which a far lesser-known Monk, playing with a local rhythm section, had bombed badly in 1954), and was filmed for French television broadcast…
A lost treasure from the legendary Thelonious Monk – a live date recorded in Paris at the end of the 60s – late in Monk's life, and every bit as wonderful as his famous 60s studio work with his quartet! Of that group, only Charlie Rouse remains on tenor sax – but Rouse is more than enough to make things great, and the interplay between his tenor and Monk's piano is completely sublime – full of angular movements, underscored with plenty of soul – and given support from Nate Hygelund on bass and either Paris Wright or Philly Joe Jones on drums. There's a rough edge to the music that's really great – that sharper, more sinister vibe that Monk could have in a live setting – and titles include "Light Blue", "Bright Mississippi", "I Mean You", "Ruby My Dear", "I Love You Sweetheart Of All My Dreams", "Crepuscule With Nellie", and "Nutty". Special package comes with a bonus DVD of the performance!
Import 25 CD boxset containing 25 of the finest Jazz albums ever released. Each album is packaged in a card wallet, and the box set includes a 40 page booklet in both English and French. The collection contains the following albums: Duke Ellington - Ellington Uptown; Dave Brubeck - Jazz Goes To College; Louis Armstrong - Satch Plays Fats; Miles Davis - Round About Midnight; Various Artists - The Sound Of Jazz; Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um; Sonny Rollins - The Bridge; Paul Desmond - Desmond Blue; Thelonious Monk - Underground; Freddie Hubbard - Straight Life; Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds Of Fire…
Import 25 CD boxset containing 25 of the finest Jazz albums ever released. Each album is packaged in a card wallet, and the box set includes a 40 page booklet in both English and French. The collection contains the following albums: Duke Ellington - Ellington Uptown; Dave Brubeck - Jazz Goes To College; Louis Armstrong - Satch Plays Fats; Miles Davis - Round About Midnight; Various Artists - The Sound Of Jazz; Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um; Sonny Rollins - The Bridge; Paul Desmond - Desmond Blue; Thelonious Monk - Underground; Freddie Hubbard - Straight Life; Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds Of Fire…
In the mid-1960s, the rigid and colourless British way of life was irrevocably transformed by the emergence of the underground movement, a loose collective of young radicals who introduced new social, sexual and aesthetic perspectives. Operating out of the heart of London, their various activities, from the newspaper the International Times, to the psychedelic club UFO, promoted alternative lifestyles and values and sparked a cultural revolution.