Monk

Wadada Leo Smith comes to the music of Thelonious Monk from a childhood admiration of the artist. As a pre-teen he was already playing trumpet and composing and instinctively knew that Monk's understanding of music and sound would influence his own creativity. Smith believes that the quintessence of Monk can best be found in his solo work. The same can be said for Smith who has produced two previous solo collections including Creative Music—1 (1972) and Solo Music: Ahkreanvention (1979), both on the Kabell label.

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. Craft Recordings, the Catalog Division of Concord Music, is proud to announce the release of Thelonious Monk's The Complete Prestige 10-Inch LP Collection. Due out December 15th, the limited-edition album set includes all five of the 10" vinyl LPs which the pianist recorded for the jazz label, spanning 1952 to 1954.

5 by Monk by 5 is an album by the jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, recorded in 1959. It contains five of Monk's original compositions performed by a quintet. The Penguin Guide to Jazz described it as "A relatively little-known Monk session, but a very good one".

Monk, Peter Bernstein's seventh album, is also his first in four and a half years, following Stranger in Paradise, which was released in Japan. It's being issued by the newly reactivated Xanadu label, which has come back into existence mainly to reissue previous albums, and this one, although a current recording, also has the air of a retrospective. As its title suggests, it's a tribute to Thelonious Monk, employing all Monk compositions.

Seldom does a "cash in" turn into a "classic," but in the case of this 1961 album of outtakes and leftovers by Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane recorded four years prior, that's exactly what happened.

Francesco Bearzatti is, without doubt, one of the top musicians of Italian jazz, with certainly the most creative and abundant projects. Following “Tina Modotti” and “X suite for Malcolm”, two projects unanimously appreciated by critics and audiences alike in France, and Europe at large, Italian saxophonist Francesco Bearzatti and his quartet offers us a truly original celebration of Thelonious Monk.

The genius of pianist and composer Thelonious Monk is unassailable. Since his death in 1982, he has become recognized as one of the greatest composers of jazz – and of the wider world of music. The year 2017 was the centennial of Monk’s birth, and brought scores of tributes, including a well-received stay of pianist Frank Kimbrough’s quartet at the Jazz Standard club in New York City.