Thelonious Monk Quartet - "Two Hours
with Thelonious"
Riverside 460/461 / Riverside/ABC RS-3020
Liner Notes by Nat Hentoff
Epistrophy (opening theme); I Mean You; Jackie-ing; Off Minor;
April in Paris (solo); Rhythm-a-ning; I'm getting sentimental Over You; Just a
Gigolo (solo); Hackensack; Well, You Needn't; (April 18, 1961 - Paris) Body
& Soul (solo); Milan intro and Jackie-ing; Straight, No Chaser; Bemsha
Swing; San Francisco Holiday; Rhythm-a-ning; Crepuscule With Nellie; Epistrophy
(closing theme); (April 21, 1961 - Milan)
Thelonious Monk - piano. Charlie Rouse - tenor. John Ore -
bass. Frankie Dunlop - drums.
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Of all Thelonious Monk's recordings, this is a particularly
joyful set. It was the spring of 1961; it was Monk's first trip to Europe. And
audiences there, hearing him in person for the first time, felt full-force what
Andre Hodeir has called "the urgent beauty" of Monk's music. They
also experienced the formidable, utterly intact independence that the very
physical presence of Monk projects.
The two sites represented here are Milan and Paris. The Milan
performances are Side 3, bands 1 through 3; Side 4, bands 2 through 5; and Side
1, band 4. The rest is Paris. Monk's colleagues were tenor saxophonist Charlie
Rouse, bassist John Ore, and Frankie Dunlop on drums.
There is a special thrust of discovery in Monk's performances
in these concerts. His work always contains the self-discovery which makes
every new performance of a song by Monk a surprise, no matter how often you've
heard him play before. On this trip, moreover, there was the additional
stimulation of new sights, sounds, attitudes. And Monk was also discovering how
wide-ranging his audience was. For all his seeming aloofness in public -- part
of which is shyness -- Monk is deeply concerned with sharing the ceaselessly
renewing pleasures of music. And the quality of response at these concerts
spurred him to challenge himself even more.
Among the basic characteristics of Monk's proudly distinctive
style as composer-player are his dramatic sense of dissonance, his wit, his
exhilaratingly resourceful use of space, and that beat. Paul Bacon once wrote
that "Monk has a beat like the ocean waves." There is also his
mastery of form. As John Coltrane put it, "Everything fits so well in
Monk's work, once you get to see the inside." In addition, there is Monk's
knowledge and love of the jazz tradition. The roots of his music -- singular as
that music is -- go deep. He is all jazz; and having thoroughly absorbed and
transmuted his influences, he is all Monk.
That's the quality which comes most directly to my mind when I
hear his music -- the totality of it, the completeness of each piece, each
performance. And as you'll hear throughout these sides, integral to that sense
of completeness is the sound of Monk. Pianist Dick Katz has recalled: "He
taught me one of his compositions note for note. I learned and played it but
couldn't make it sound the way it was supposed to. The sound of the entire
piece is important in his work, not just the melodies alone. Of how many jazz
composers besides Duke Ellington can this be said?"
A few, but very few. And that's why Monk's recordings retain
such strength. Every element is in place, for Monk improvises as well as writes
with an extraordinary unity of conception. I've returned often to these
European concerts since they were first released, for their powers are
regenerative. And I'm glad this important part of the Monk canon is being made
available again, for it is essential to the Monk discography, and therefore
essential to the jazz discography. As someone used to introduce him, he is
"the onliest Monk" -- a true, durable original."
© Nat Hentoff