Thelonious Monk Monk's Music

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).

Thelonious Monk - The Complete Thelonious Monk At The It Club (2009) {180g 4LP BOX Mosaic}
Vinyl rip @ 24/96 | FLAC(tracks) – 3.63 Gb | Full Scans – 10 Mb | Label: Mosaic Records
Genre: Jazz | RAR 5% | Rec. CAT #MRLP 3001

The Thelonious Monk Quartet with Charlie Rouse lasted eleven years. October 31 and November 1, 1964 at the It Club in Los Angeles were just two more nights out of thousands for them, except when it comes to Monk, there were no ordinary nights. Rouse in his sixth year with Monk had hit his stride, truly becoming Monk's musical alter ego. Remarkably, drummer Ben Riley had joined the quartet at the beginning of 1964 and bassist Larry Gales had only logged in a month at the time of this taping; yet they already show the first signs of collective greatness on these evenings.