Thelonious Monk – The Classic Quartet (CD)
Product Details
Thelonious Monk's compositional language, built on dissonance, space, and rhythmic displacement, took years for the jazz world to fully reckon with. By the early 1960s, that reckoning had arrived. The quartet configuration he maintained through this period became the vehicle through which he'd refined his vision most completely, with Charlie Rouse's dry, unhurried tenor serving as the ideal foil to Monk's famously angular piano.
At the time of this recording, Thelonious Monk was at both a creative and critical peak. He had recently signed with Columbia Records, notably one of the biggest jazz labels in the world at the time, and the following year became the third jazz musician in history to appear on the cover of Time Magazine.
The Classic Quartet is comprised of Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, Butch Warren on bass, and Frankie Dunlop on drums. The recording captures what is undoubtedly one of the very best sets of the era. The songs, classic Monk repertoire, will be familiar to any Monk fan. That includes what is by all accounts an exceptional version of one of Monk's favorite standards, "Just A Gigolo."
This recording is the audio portion of a television show recorded in Tokyo during Monk's 1963 tour of Japan.
Meticulously restored and remastered by award-winning engineer Bernie Grundman
Classic Quartet - Thelonious Monk
Tracklist
UPC: 708857355129
Label: Candid
Release Date: 6.2.23
Format: CD