Monk

Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane is a 1961 album by Thelonious Monk issued on Jazzland Records, a subsidiary of Riverside Records. It consists of material recorded four years earlier when Monk worked extensively with John Coltrane, issued after Coltrane had become a leader and jazz star in his own right.

Thelonious Sphere Monk (/θəˈloʊniəs/, October 10, 1917– February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser", "Ruby, My Dear", "In Walked Bud", and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second-most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington.

Thelonious Monk fans in particular are advised to search for this valuable two-LP set for it contains a variety of unissued material from the pianist/composer's six-year period with Columbia.

This is the sixth studio album cut by Thelonious Monk under the production/direction of Teo Macero for Columbia and as such should not be confused with the original motion picture soundtrack to the 1988 film of the same name.

"Solo Monk" is the eighth album Thelonious Monk originally released for Columbia Records in 1965. The album is composed entirely of solo piano work by Monk. The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek states "This is perhaps the solo piano record to have by Monk". In addition to various vinyl and CD issues, Sony Music issued an SACD in Japan.

In our ever increasingly vast realm of computer-generated and computer-reproduced compositions, we neglect the fact that music in general, and voice in particular, is something done by the body; it is, by and large, a corporeal activity. However, there is, among certain composers and performers (from both the classical and popular worlds), a continuing pocket of resistance to this trend and perhaps no figure better represents that heterogeneous contingency than Meredith Monk. This recording is an excellent introduction to Monk's work. The Vocal Ensemble sounds wonderfully inventive and exciting throughout and the material on this CD includes some of Monk's finest shorter pieces. "Scared Song", the first track, presents a representative example of her imaginative use of repetition and variation. Other highlights include "Panda Chant II" and "Memory Song".