I’ve been a fan of John Coltrane for 25 years and I’ve loved some Thelonious Monk along the way.
Coltrane has been dead since 1967 and yet, amazingly, we’re still getting the occasional “new” Coltrane CD, although lately we’ve been down to re-releases, a bootleg or an outtake here and there.
So, like a gift from God who, I strongly suspect, is a jazz fan, we have this new CD.
Early this year, somebody found recordings of a 1957 Carnegie Hall performance by these two giants, in an unmarked box in the Library of Congress. Work began immediately to restore these tapes and the result is terrific. Coltrane’s playing is sublime and if you want to know what all the fuss is about about Coltrane, it’s as good a place as any to start.
Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane
\
- Monk’s Mood
- Evidence
- Crepescule with Nellie
- Nutty
- Epistrophy
- Bye-Ya
- Sweet And Lovely
- Blue Monk
- Epistrophy
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Every year sees a crop of newly found jazz gems, but rarely are listeners treated to anything as special as this 1957 concert recording of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, which was accidentally discovered in an unmarked box by a Library of Congress engineer early in 2005. Until now, fans could only dream of hearing these two immortals play together beyond the three studio tracks they left behind. But here they are, hitting their stride at an all-star benefit concert, basking in the chemistry they had developed in Monk’s quartet during the preceding weeks at New York’s Five Spot. Coltrane’s playing is a revelation. He’s both an inspired accompanist and a galvanizing soloist, taking the music to new heights with his bold, brilliantly challenging, and sometimes jaw-dropping phrases, note clusters, and blasts of power. Sharing with Coltrane a newfound sense of freedom following the personal and professional troubles that had plagued them both, Monk is clearly tickled to be in the tenorist’s presence, injecting humorous commentaries and otherwise asserting his eccentric genius as a pianist. The material, which was very well recorded by the Voice of America, includes Monk classics like “Epistrophy,” “Monk’s Moods,” and “Evidence,” as well as a striking rendition of the standard “Sweet and Lovely.” This is music that not only bears repeated listenings, but also demands them–the ultimate definition of a classic. --Lloyd Sachs