Monk

Celebrating 100 years of Thelonious Monk: includes A Collective Personnel Of: Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Gary Mapp, Julius Watkins, Percy Heath, Willie Jones, Ray Copeland, Frank Foster, Curly Russell, Tommy Potter And Art Taylor…

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

For the first time ever, Thelonious Monk's complete trio performance at Newport 1958 (only an edited version of "Blue Monk" with overdubbed announcements had been previously released on the film Jazz on a Summer's Day). This CD also contains Monk's splendid and also unissued quartet concert at the same festival the following year. As a bonus, the only two existing tracks featuring Monk with the Duke Ellington band, recorded at Newport '62 and also appearing here for the first time.