- Epistrophy
- Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are
- Evidence
- Just a Gigolo
- Blue Monk
Thelonious Monk - Piano
Charlie Rouse - Tenor
Butch Warren - Bass
Frankie Dunlop - Drums
Recorded in Tokyo, May 23rd.1963.
Monk and Charlie Rouse were
long time partners in music, Charlie has always
been a favourite of mine he has a nice warm
tone and plays long flowing lines, this makes
him a great foil for Monk whose very angular
approach to jazz improvisation, took me along
while to get used to. To anyone who feels
the same about Monk on first hearing, I would
say "stay with it" you will find
it rewarding in the end.
The title is not misleading,
this really is a classic jazz quartet in every
way, not only are all the musicians masters
of the genre, but collectively they produce
a great sound. Butch Warren and Frankie Dunlop
are the ideal rhythm pairing, their first
concern being the accompaniment of Rouse and
Monk, but that said they are both capable
soloists.
The programme consists of
four of Monk’s compositions and one standard,
Just a Gigolo, which I have not heard before
as a jazz vehicle. The oddly named track 2,
is otherwise known as Bolivar Blues, named
after the New York hotel where Monk’s "soul
mate" the Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswater
resided. Blue Monk is of course also a blues
composition, one that has become a jazz standard
and Charlie Rouse plays a fine extended solo
on this version.
Just a Gigolo is an unaccompanied
piano solo, it is a classic in the kind of
work Monk was capable of, seemingly never
to do the obvious but always miraculously
pulling it all together in the end!
There is only some 36 minutes
music on this record, but it is 36 minutes
of high quality jazz. I recommend it.
Don Mather
5 March 2006
CD Reviews
CANDID CCD 79551
