Monk's Music

20-PAGE BOOKLET EDITION

INCLUDES 6 BONUS TRACKS

5 STARS DOWNBEAT

INCLUDES NEW SPECIALLY PREPARED LINER NOTES BY PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ'S WRITER BRIAN MORTON AND BY PARIS'S PRESTIGIOUS JAZZ MAGAZINE

“This is Thelonious Monk’s music in the most complete sense. These sessions have been particularly valued for the presence of Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane, two saxophone giants from different generations. Some accounts of the recordings devote more space to the horns than to the leader. So listen carefully to how humbly Coltrane plays on “Ruby My Dear”. He was still an emerging artist, to be sure, but his command of the instrument was complete and he didn’t usually play with this reserve. Hawkins, by contrast, is determined to make his presence felt. He even comes in at the wrong place a couple of times.” - PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ

“Playing Thelonious Monk’s music is always a challenge. Even the greatest performers were frequently puzzled by his compositions. During the sessions that produced this album, now considered among the pianist’s masterworks, Coleman Hawkins, the “inventor” of the tenor saxophone in jazz, and John Coltrane, one of Hawk’s most celebrated disciples, tried to unravel the various secrets hidden in Monk’s scores, to get as close as they could to the mysterious beauty of his music.” - JAZZ MAGAZINE

PERSONNEL:

Thelonious Monk - piano
Coleman Hawkins & John Coltrane - tenor sax
Gigi Gryce - alto sax
Ray Copeland - trumpet
Wilbur Ware - bass
Art Blakey - drums

New York, June 26, 1957.

TRACKS:

01. ABIDE WITH ME
02. WELL YOU NEEDN’T
03. RUBY, MY DEAR [feat. Coleman Hawkins]
04. OFF MINOR
05. EPISTROPHY
06. CREPUSCULE WITH NELLIE
07. RUBY, MY DEAR [feat. John Coltrane] (*)
08. NUTTY (*)
09. TRINKLE TINKLE (*)
10. MONK’S MOOD (*)
11. ‘ROUND MIDNIGHT [1954 solo piano version] (*)
12. ‘ROUND MIDNIGHT [1947 quintet version] (*)

TOTAL TIME: 75:23 Min.

(*) BONUS TRACKS