Five-Star Collection... Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane

Certain combinations of men have been leaving indelible marks on the music called jazz since its beginning. Some formed a lifetime association; others were together only for a brief period. Some actively shaped the course of jazz; others affected it more osmotically. All have had one thing in common; they produced music of lasting value.

One historic teaming was that of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane at New York's Five Spot Cafe, beginning in the summer of 1957. Although the group remained together for only a half-year, those of us who heard it will never forget the experience. There were some weeks when I was at the Five Spot two and three times, staying most of the night even when I intended just to catch a set or two. The music was simultaneously kinetic and hypnotic. J.J. Johnson has compared it to the mid-Forties union of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. "Since Charlie Parker, the most electrifying sound that I've heard in contemporary jazz was Coltrane playing with Monk at the Five Spot. … It was incredible, like Diz and Bird", Jay said.

Monk and Coltrane complemented each other perfectly. The results of this successful musical alliance were beneficial to both. In this setting, Monk began to receive the brunt of a long-overdue recognition. On the other hand, Coltrane's talent, set in such a fertile environment, bloomed like a hibiscus. 'Trane's comments in a Down Beat article (September 29, 1960), clearly describe how he reveres Monk. "Working with Monk brought me close to a musical architect of the highest order. I felt I learned from him in every way — through the senses, theoretically, technically. I would talk to Monk about musical problems and he would sit at the piano and show me the answers by playing them. I could watch him play and find out the things I wanted to know. Also, I could see a lot of things that I didn't know about at all", he stated.

Later in the piece, 'Trane added: "I think Monk is one of the true greats of all time. He's a real musical thinker — there're not many like him. I feel myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with him. If a guy needs a little spark, a boost, he can just be around Monk, and Monk will give it to him".

Monk certainly brought 'Trane out beautifully. It was in this period that John began to experiment with what at the time I called "sheets of sound". Actually, he was thinking in groups of notes rather than one note at a time. Monk's practice of "laying out" allowed 'Trane to "stroll" against the pulse of bass and drums and really develop this playing attitude on his own. 

(...)

To round out the album, three alternate masters from previously released Monk sessions are included. Off Minor and Epistrophy were heard on "Monk’s Music" (Riverside RLP 242). It is stimulating to compare the different versions and how the solos vary and coincide from take to take. Off Minor has solos by Hawkins, Copeland and Monk, but the bits by Ware and Blakey are not as developed as on the original issue. Epistrophy, in the original version, featured all the horns of the septet and Monk. Here, only Coltrane and Copeland are heard in solo.

The first Functional is on "Thelonious Himself" (Riverside RLP 235). This version is as different in individual idea and, at the same time close in spirit to the other, as two takes can be. It almost deserves a title of its own. I only wish I had two turntables. I think the two Functionals might make a wild duet for four Monk hands.

But, as intriguing as these alternate masters are, the main attraction here is the unearthing of the quartet tracks. These are milestones in jazz history and important to every serious listener.

Steve Lacy, the soprano saxophonist who worked with Monk for 16 weeks in 1960, has said of Monk's music: "Monk has got his own poetry and you've got to get the fragrance of it".

It is obvious that in 1957, Coltrane was doing some deep breathing.

*Ira Gitler (from the liner notes)*

To spell out the contents for a bit, Functional is a remarkable, unaccompanied piano solo. It is an alternate version to the one included on Thelonious Himself (Riverside 235) and so different from the original that I think it should have been given a different title.

Off Minor and Epistrophy are alternate and briefer versions from the septet date that produced Monk's Music (Riverside 242). The former has very good solos by Hawkins, Copeland, and Monk, the latter solos by Coltrane and Copeland.

Nutty, Ruby, and Trinkle are by Monk. Coltrane, Ware, and Wilson — the quartet that had an almost legendary stay at the Five Spot in New York during the summer of 1957, a prelude to Monk’s rediscovery as a major jazzman and to his current popularity and surely one of the most important (and exhilarating) events in jazz in recent years.

These three selections were recorded and the tapes were labeled "for posterity" and set aside until contractual conflicts had been resolved, permitting their release now. They are strong experiences, and if they are not as good as the performances one heard those summer nights at the Five Spot, they are nevertheless exceptional jazz.

Each member of that quartet played with great enthusiasm and at the peak of his own abilities, and through Monk's music each man was discovering and expanding his potential almost nightly.

Monk and Coltrane had exceptional emotional rapport. Technically, on the other hand, they were superb contrasts. Coltrane's techniques are obvious, Monk's more subtle. At the same time that Coltrane, with his showers of notes and his "sheets of sound", seemed to want to shatter jazz rhythms into an evenly spaced and constant array of short notes, Monk seemed to want to break them up subtly and phrase with a new freedom. Monk is a melodist: his playing is linear and horizontal. Coltrane is an arpeggio player; his approach is vertical. He is a kind of latter-day Coleman Hawkins.

But even Coltrane's earlier solo on Epistrophy shows that he found enormous harmonic stimulation in Monk's music — he seemed to know not only where Monk was but where he was headed, as very few players did. But again, as the quartet tracks show (particularly Ruby, Coltrane also knew that Monk's melodies are very strong and important and that it isn’t enough merely to run their changes. Over and over again here, Monk's materials discipline Coltrane and order his explorations in a way that no material he has since dealt with seems to have done.

Ware is, like Monk, a melodist, and he also finds surprise twists even in the most traditional approach. Wilson, whose early work had the smooth evenness of a Jo Jones, responds to Monk's hints with enthusiastic and appropriate polyrhythmic patterns.

Monk also got a remarkable variety of textures from this group — by playing with Coltrane, by playing contrapuntally against Coltrane, by laying out and leaving Coltrane to Ware and Wilson, sometimes predominately to one of them, sometimes to both equally.

Some details: On Nutty, after Coltrane has strayed further and further into elaborate harmonic implications of the piece, Monk enters for his solo with, as usual, a simple and eloquent re-establishment of the theme in paraphrase. He does the same on Trinkle, with an even more subtle recasting of that intricate melody.

Ruby is a knowingly embellished version of a lovely piece. The end of Coltrane's opening solo has a particularly beautiful (and Monkish) effect of suspension, and Monk's decision to begin his solo with lightly implied double-timing was a near master-stroke of meaningful contrast.

The best quartet performance is Trinkle. The one flaw is that the line itself, unlike most of Monk's melodies, is a bit pianistic in conception to be fully effective on saxophone. But the spontaneous interplay between Monk and Coltrane in Trinkle is quite wonderful, as is Monk's intuitive logic in knowing just when to stop it and let Coltrane stroll along against Ware and Wilson. Ware's solo is good (and I'm afraid makes one long for those evenings when he would spin several effortless choruses in each piece).

As I said, this solo Functional is quite different from the previous version. On the earlier releases, Monk manages to play variations on one of the simplest and most percussive of all blues phrases in a nine-minute tour de force of cohesive imaginative invention. Here we hear nearly 10 minutes of Monk playing the blues in a dramatic yet lyric curve of melody.

Other delights: the interplay of Ware behind Monk on Off Minor. Copeland's solo on the same piece; in his way he knows the relationship of parts of Monk's music, of melody to harmony, as well as Coltrane does.

Nostalgia can corrupt memory, of course, but even allowing for that, I don't think these quartet performances are up to the level one heard at the Five Spot from this group. However, Trinkle very nearly is. The other two are fine performances. I think that in this way Epistrophy is excellent, too. And Functional is a near masterpiece.

*Martin Williams (Down Beat, December 21, 1961 [5 stars]*

Note: Although the Original Jazz Classics CD edition cites a four-star Down Beat rating, no contemporary issue of the magazine appears to support that figure. The original Down Beat review published on December 21, 1961 awarded the album five stars, and no earlier four-star review has been documented. The discrepancy likely stems from a later typographical error rather than from the original magazine review.

1 - Ruby, My Dear

(Thelonious Monk)

2 - Trinkle, Tinkle

(Thelonious Monk)

3 - Off Minor (alternate master)

(Thelonious Monk)

4 - Nutty

(Thelonious Monk)

5 - Epistrophy (alternate master)

(Kenny Clarke, Thelonious Monk)

6 - Functional (solo piano, alternate master)

(Thelonious Monk)

Thelonious Monk (piano); John Coltrane (tenor sax); Ray Copeland (trumpet [#3, #4]);

Gigi Gryce (alto sax [#3, #4]); Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax [#3, #4]);

Wilbur Ware (bass); Shadow Wilson [#1, #2, #4]), Art Blakey [#3, #5] (drums).

Recorded at Reeves Sound Studios, New York City,

April 12 (#6), June 26 (#3, #4) and circa July (#1, #2, #4), 1957

Five-Star Collection... Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk Septet

Monk's Music

This is THELONIOUS MONK's music — an album emphasizing fresh versions of some of his most notable compositions, as played with great skill, respect and enthusiasm by top jazz musicians.

Monk, throughout a long struggle for fitting recognition, has at least been fortunate in one important respect: a substantial body of performers has always been aware of the originality, significance and validity of his music and been eager for opportunities to play alongside him. To work with Monk is a challenge, both because of the demands his music makes on players and because he is an unrelenting perfectionist; but this is the sort of challenge that talented and properly self-confident men appreciate and enjoy. 

Thus Thelonious has no difficulty in surrounding himself with the best.

(...)

But, with all due respect to these six considerable talents, a Thelonious Monk album belongs primarily to Thelonious. For many years regarded as an awesome genius, but one whose ideas were too far-out for general consumption, Monk now seems finally to be gaining long-deserved acceptance.

(...)

In any event, more and more new listeners now seem prepared to take the trouble (and it still is trouble, although it can be vastly rewarding) to pay close attention to Thelonious. Which makes it a fitting time to present an album largely devoted to new and expanded treatments of four Monk "classics" of the '40s, previously recorded by him only in briefer versions and without horns.

It should be noted that terms like "composition", "arrangement", and for that matter even "performance", can be quite misleading if taken too narrowly. To a performer-writer like Monk (and like most major figures in East Coast jazz today), a composition is automatically also an arrangement, designed to be played by himself and by specific other instruments (often specific musicians). In subsequent performance with other players and groups of different sizes, the arrangement changes; after a while, 

a change of attitude towards the original composition, or new creative ideas, can lead to further substantial alterations. (This may be one reason why jazz of this school, 

whatever its own shortcomings might be, can never be accused of "coldness", a charge sometimes to be made against music prepared once-and-for-all by arrangers who 

then do not continue to be personally associated with the composition.)

Because of this, and because Monk never likes to consider any tune as static, irrevocable or finally set, an "old" Monk piece can and often does become recast and revitalized to a point where it should properly be regarded as "new" music. * Orrin Keepnews (liner notes)*

Although there are a few moments of relative disorganization on this set, the compelling musical personality of Monk more than makes up for it.

Starting with the less-than-a-minute version of Abide, played by the horn choir, through the final notes of Crepescule, with its old blues feel underlying modern raiment, the album is to date the best cross section of what Monk is doing today with a group.

Hawkins, who can appear in virtually any context and feel musically right at home, appeared lost structurally on two of the tracks. Blakey and Ware propelled him into his solo on Well, You Needn’t. When it seemed that Hawk was looking for a foothold, Blakey fed him a climactic roll, and Ware gave him an ascending line on which to build. Ware earlier performed the same function for Coltrane, who popped in a bit late after Monk's shouted: "Coltrane, Coltrane". Ware punched the same note for some eight bars before biting into an ascending line, giving Coltrane's solo a tremendous rhythmic boost.

On the brittle Epistrophy, Hawk had a false start on his solo during Blakey's session at the drums, but Art later fed him a clean break on which to start blowing.

Rather than detracting from the performance here, these minor occurrances only heighten the feeling of spontaniety.

Hawk is noble and warm on Ruby, and Monk is moody and firm on Crepescule. Off Minor, a blatant and thoroughly Monk piece, features excellent soloing by Hawk, Copeland, and Monk, with a brief burst of fireworks from Blakey.

Throughout, Monk is the dominant force. The music, whether blown by the horns or rapped out by his hands, is as much a part of him as his thoughts. It is a highly personal music, now brittle and seemingly spastic; now firm and outspoken. But always it is unified in conception and in overall sound.

It is a tribute to Monk that within this intensely personal music, a soloist like Coltrane can develop a singularly personal style of his own, while fitting into the frame of Monk's reference. Trane's work on Epistrophy, for example, is about as fine as I've heard from him on record. In person, his playing is constantly tense and searching, always a thrilling experience.

This is one to play again and again with no diminution of pleasure, or of discovery.

*Dom Cerulli (Down Beat, December 26, 1957 [5 stars])*

Side 1

1 - Abide With Me

(Henry Francis Lyte, William Henry Monk)

2 - Well, You Needn't

(Thelonious Monk)

3 - Ruby, My Dear

(Thelonious Monk)

Side 2

4 - Off Minor

(Thelonious Monk)

5 - Epistrophy

(Thelonious Monk)

6 - Crepuscule With Nellie

(Thelonious Monk)

Ray Copeland (trumpet); Gigi Gryce (alto sax), Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane (tenor saxes);

Thelonious Monk (piano); Wilbur Ware (bass); Art Blakey (drums).

Recorded at Reeves Sound Studio, New York City, June 26, 1957

Trumpet Conclave (II)

 In the previous post, about the so-called "Cool Gabriels", we can checked out Nat Hentoff's review. While he didn't completely dismiss them, he did raise a few eyebrows — mainly pointing out that some of the solos felt a bit too restrained:

"The solos are also of a consistently controlled and assured level while the ensemble playing is sharp and alive. Yet there is little here that really clutches the emotions, little that is nakedly beneath the surface. It's like a good issue of a well-produced slick magazine", Hentoff wrote.

He then took the chance to recommend another trumpet session — one he clearly thought packed more emotional punch:

"For a more earthy, more deeply wailing trumpet meeting, try Savoy's Top Brass under Ernie Wilkins' direction", he said.

And knowing how tough Hentoff could be when it came to handing out stars, it's worth paying attention. Top Brass actually got the full five stars from him — the highest rating in Down Beat. So, let's take his word for it and give Top Brass the spotlight it deserves.

Ernie Wilkins Presents

Top Brass

Featuring Five Trumpets

Top Brass is a modern and expanded reincarnation of several of the Keynote sessions in the '40s when a pride of several lions on one particular instrument was assembled to exchange ideas and styles. In this case, five trumpeters (Ernie Royal, Idress Su-lieman, Joe Wilder, Ray Copeland, and  Donald Byrd) blow in various Ernie Wilkins’ settings backed without flaw  by Hank Jones, Kenny Clarke, and Wendell Marshall. Three of the originals are by Ernie; one he co-wrote with Earl Van Riper, and "Dot's What" is by Johnny Mandel. The lines are sprightly and Ernie, who arranged all, is his usual spare, swinging, estimable self.

On the first five, the hornmen alternate in the various chairs from lead on. The complete notes identify all positions and solos, and provide good, concise biographical backgrounds (and some spelling mistakes). Most of the second side is devoted to ballad explorations by each trumpeter, and the comparison of approaches is illuminating and enjoyable all down the line. Note particularly Joe Wilder's "Willow Weep For Me", one of the most movingly lyrical solos ever recorded. On the up-tempos, everybody swings and each has several individual statements of worth to make. The recorded sound is appropriately bright. All hail to Savoy and Ozzie Cadena for thinking this one up, and to Mr. Wilkins and his friends for making it work so excitingly.

*Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, April 4, 1956)

Although he was a better than average saxophonist with Count Basie, by the time of these 1950s sessions for Savoy, Ernie Wilkins was working exclusively as an arranger and composer. Most of the music within this compilation comes from a 1955 session with trumpeters Donald Byrd, Ray Copeland, Ernie Royal, Idrees Sulieman, and Joe Wilder, pianist Hank Jones, bassist Wendell Marshall, and drummer Kenny Clarke. Four of the first five tracks are swinging originals by Wilkins, and there's also an obscure Johnny Mandel blues, "Dot's What." The remaining music from the first session is a ballad medley where each trumpeter is featured in turn playing a personal favorite, all of which have become time-tested standards. If there's any complaint about this studio date at all, it is the excess reverb used at times, which is surprising due to Rudy Van Gelder's usually impeccable sound. The bonus tracks are from another Wilkins-led session from 1957; trumpeters Art Farmer, Charlie Shavers, Emmett Berry, and Harold "Shorty" Baker join Royal, with Don Abney taking over on piano and Bobby Donaldson on drums. Both of Wilkins' originals, "Blues in 6/4" and "Trumpets All Out," are enjoyable even if they never became widely known. *Ken Dryden*

Ernie Wilkins wrote the lines for this collection of five trumpeters — Joe Wilder, Ernie Royal, Ray Copeland, Indres Sulieman and Donald Byrd — and rhythm — Hank Jones, Wendell Marshall and Kenny Clark. Savoy was kind enough to carefully note each solo and section position of each trumpeter on each selection. All of it is rather moderate modern, mostly on the boppy kick (some of the solos are less than that). But over-all it's an interesting, certainly a swinging, album; five tracks have section work and then individual solos while the other side features one ballad apiece. Aside from Donald Byrd, who is overshadowed here, it would be hard to finally pick among the four, especially on the ballads, for which and for Hank's comping, the album draws its major favor. *Metronome • Music USA (June, 1956)*

1 - 58 Market Street

(Ernest Wilkins, Earl Van Riper)

2 - Trick Or Treat

(Ernest Wilkins)

3 - Speedway

(Ernest Wilkins)

4 - Dot's What

(Johnny Mandel)

5 - Top Brass

(Ernest Wilkins)

Ballad Medley:

6 - Willow Weep For Me

(Ann Ronell)

7 - Imagination

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

8 - It Might As Well Be Spring

(Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers)

9 - The Nearness Of You

(Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington)

10 - Taking A Chance On Love

(Vernon Duke, Ted Fetter, John Latouche)

11 - Blues In 6/4

(Ernest Wilkins)

12 - Trumpets All Out

(Ernest Wilkins)

#1 to #10: from the album Top Brass Featuring 5 Trumpets (Savoy Records MG 12044)

Donald Byrd, Ray Copeland, Ernie Royal, Idrees Sulieman, Joe Wilder (trumpets);

Hank Jones (piano); Wendell Marshall (bass); Kenny Clarke (drums).

Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studios,Hackenshack, New Jersey, November 8, 1955

#11 and #12: from the album Trumpets All Out (Savoy Records MG 1209)

Art Farmer, Ernie Royal, Charlie Shavers, Emmett Berry, Harold Baker (trumpets);

Don Abney (piano); Wendell Marshall (bass); Bobby Donaldson (drums).

Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studios,Hackenshack, New Jersey, January 15, 1956

Specs Powell & Co. - Movin' In

Drummer Gordon "Specs" Powell born in New York on June 5, 1922, and died in San Marcos, California, on September 15, 2007. He traveled the jazz world discreetly, spending most of his career in CBS radio and television studios, notably for the famous Ed Sullivan Show, as part of Raymond Scott's house band. He was also the first black musician hired by a radio orchestra, in 1943. His flexibility, due to the fact that he also played castanets, bongos and the whole range of small percussion instruments, also contributed to his longevity. He left CBS in 1972 to retire to the Virgin Islands, then to the San Diego area.

Specs Powell had begun his professional career in the late 1930s with Edgar Hayes, in the middle of the swing era, and continued it with Benny Carter and Ben Webster. After recording on a number of V-Discs, he found himself in the whirlwind of Manhattan's 52nd Street nightlife, sometimes playing four different gigs a night to accompany legends such as Billie Holiday, John Kirby, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins and Red Norvo.

It was in 1957 that he recorded Movin' In, his first and only album as a leader. At the time of the infancy of bebop, he had been one of the very first drummers to accompany the emergence of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Hence the affection shown by the latter in his presentation text on the back of the album cover. He laments that most "modern" drummers have missed the dimension and mastery of this drummer and percussionist that he adores. The album, a condensed swing with a team of familiar faces from Count Basie's orchestra, does him full justice in this regard. It should be noted that it was released on the Roulette label, at a time when Basie himself was signing a few masterpieces there. *Alex Dutilh*

A neglected gem from Specs Powell & Co. in 1957. The versatile but little-known drummer Gordon "Specs" Powell (1922-2007) was active in the 1930s and 40s and worked with Errol Garner during the 1950s.This excellent album was his only session as leader recorded for ROULETTE in 1957.

With Powell (drums) were Sahib Shihab (alto & baritone sax); Aaron Sachs (tenor sax & clarinet); Pritchard Cheeseman (baritone sax); George Dorsey (alto sax & flute); Ray Copeland, Leon Merian (trumpets); Jimmy Cleveland, Jimmie Dahl (trombones); Hank Jones, Nat Pierce (piano); Clyde Lombardi (bass).

The 12 memorable tracks are a mix of Powell originals and standards with arrangements by Ray Copeland. There are plenty of fine solos and this swinging modern-mainstream jazz deserves to be more widely known.

Dizzy Gillespie's enthusiastic liner notes require the eyes of a hawk or a very strong pair of "specs". *Jazzrook (from Amazon review)*

1- Undecided

(Robin, Shavers)

2 - All Or Nothing At All

(Lawrence, Altman)

3- It's a Pitty To Say Goodnight

(B. Reid)

4 - You Don't Know What Love Is

(Raye, DePaul)

5 - Spider Blues

(Specs Powell)

6 - Rat Race

(Specs Powell)

7 - Suspicion

(Specs Powell)

8 - Locked Out

(Specs Powell)

9 - He's My Guy

(Raye, DePaul)

10 - I'll Remember April

(Raye, DePaul, Johnston)

11 - Dispossessed

(Specs Powell)

12 - Movin' In

(Specs Powell)

 

Ray Copeland, Leon Merian (trumpets); Jimmie Dahl, Jimmy Cleveland (trombones); George Dorsey (alto sax, flute); Sahib Shihab (alto sax, baritone sax); Aaron Schs (tenor sax, clarinet); Pritchard Cheeseman (baritone sax); Clyde Lombardi (bass); Hank Jones, Nat Pierce [#11] (pianos); Specs Powell (drums).

Recorded in New York City, February 13 and 20, 1957