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| Straight, No Chaser; Monk | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 5 2008, 06:05 PM (272 Views) | |
| Pa Stark | Dec 5 2008, 06:05 PM Post #1 |
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Charter Member
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Ma Stark has a master's degree in piano from a Soviet music academy, and has always loved American Jazz. She used to listen to Ella Fitzgerald records, and as a teenager took a five hour train ride from Vilnius to Minsk to see Louis Armstrong play. She told me the concert hall was mobbed, with fans trying to climb in the windows to have a chance to hear Satchmo play. A few years ago a friend at work loaned us several jazz videos, and one was STRAIGHT, NO CHASER, the documentary on Thelonious Monk. It was her first exposure to him, and Monk just blew her away. She said he was a real philosopher, that his compositions were on the highest level, and that he was the greatest pianist in America. A treasure trove of film was discovered of Monk playing in clubs, in the studio, and on the road, with his wife, and associates, and it was edited into an absolutely fascinating documentary. Monk was a very strange person, and much of his music was very difficult to understand, and even more so to play. The sad part is the discussion about Monk's mental illness, with his son, TS Monk saying when he was a child, his father at times didn't know who he was. Despite coming across as being helpless in dealing with the world, you can tell Monk totally understood his music, even if no one else did. A couple of years ago when my son Trigger was taking band in middle school, I loaned this film to his teacher, and she played it for the class. Unfortunately, not one student could understand this person who existed on a different level. Pa says this documentary is a must see, I give it a 10. Edited by Pa Stark, Dec 5 2008, 06:07 PM.
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| Honest and Lovable Pa Stark | |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Dec 7 2008, 11:33 AM Post #2 |
Mouth Breather
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Panzer agrees wholeheartedly. It's in my top five documentaries along with Say Amen, Somebody; The Thin Blue Line; Vernon, Fla.; Dancing Outlaw; and The Amazing Delores. |
| We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater | |
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| JazzGuyy | Dec 9 2008, 11:49 AM Post #3 |
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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You'll get a big second on this one from me too. The thing that most fascinates me about Monk's music is the sheer playfulness of it. You do not hear echoes of Monk's troubled mind in his music, but rather a joy that transcends his suffering. The spirit of Monk's music is similar to Mozart's as far as I am concerned. Two men whose musical expressions give no hint of the unhappiness or pain in their lives. Monk was not a great technician at the piano but his approach is totally his own and no other musician sounds like Monk (except when Harry Connick Jr. does his slavish Monk imitations which capture the letter but miss the spirit). |
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| Pa Stark | Dec 9 2008, 06:05 PM Post #4 |
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Charter Member
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It always brightens my day to find more Monk fans. Have you listened to a two disc set titled "Monk Live At The It Club?" It totally blew me away. I have listened to "Teo," which is the second cut of disc 2 about a dozen times. It is over 10 minutes long, but seems like it is only a couple of minutes long. The first music I heard by Monk was the CD "Monk's Blues." It was more big band style, and the first cut "Let's Cool One" got me started. "Teo" is my favorite piece by Monk, followed by "Blue Monk." There is a hip coffee house in my neighborhood named Simple Pleasures Cafe, and a couple of Monday nights a month there is a group called Mostly Monk. If Panzer or Gravy are around town, why not get together and check them out? |
| Honest and Lovable Pa Stark | |
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| George Kaplan | Dec 10 2008, 07:44 PM Post #5 |
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Well put. I treasure Monk's Riverside albums, especially Brilliant Corners and Thelonious Himself, but it's hard to pick a best period. The energy and inventiveness of the early Blue Note records are felt in the lyricism and humor of the later Columbia albums, and the arrangements in all of them are never less than pure Monk, quirky and angular and continually surprising. I heard him perform in San Diego in the early '70s, around the time he was recording for Black Lion in London. If he was suffering from mental illness he gave no sign of it that night. He showed up an hour late (no big deal; the fans just kept drinking), but after making his way through the press of bodies around the platform he settled in and played with a studious intensity one seldom sees in live performance (maybe Gonzalo Rubalcaba). The man WORKED! He played three sets that night. Some years earlier in Toronto, a Monk-obsessed friend of mine camped out in the lobby of a hotel where Monk was staying, hoping to get a chance to quiz the man about his "technique." He never did meet Monk, but Monk's wife was kind enough to chat with him for a couple of minutes. She told him that if Monk made a mistake while playing, he would try to incorporate the mistake into the composition--while playing! I don't know enough to say whether this accounts for some of Monk's bizarre chord structures, but I believe it does say something about the mind of a supreme jazz musician. Pa, thanks for the tip on Straight, No Chaser. It's in my Netflix queue. |
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| mort bakaprevski | Dec 27 2008, 03:19 PM Post #6 |
Soony Roony!
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Monk is definitely one of the landmark musicians of the twentieth century… but I’ve got to admit I’ve always been just too damn lazy to take the time to appreciate him. I think I’ve only purchased one recording, in my lifetime, that had Monk on it and that was mainly because it had Miles Davis & Milt Jackson as well. It was somewhat controversial as Monk did NOT play at all when Miles soloed (he comped behind Jackson). A lot of people thought that Miles had asked Monk not to play because he didn’t like Monk’s chords. In Miles” “auto”biography he claims that was NOT the reason, but admits that he did ask Monk not to play during his solos. Who knows??? Pa, I envy you having someone who can help educate you into the intricacies of Mr. Monk’s musical world!!! |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Dec 28 2008, 10:52 AM Post #7 |
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Mouth Breather
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Pa, I seldom get to your neck of the woods on a Monday, but when I do I promise to get in touch. I saw Monk once playing a benefit at Fillmore East. He insisted that every light in the theater be turned off, even the Exit lights, and apparently Bill Graham agreed. Monk played a short solo set with only a single candle on the piano. Ray Charles and Ike & Tina Turner played during the same benefit, but Monk is the only thing most people remember, even those who never heard of him before that night. He was pure magic. |
| We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater | |
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| Pa Stark | Jan 2 2009, 04:43 PM Post #8 |
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Charter Member
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Speaking of Brother Ray, over 40 years ago I was talking about him with a fellow student and he told me he went to see Ray Charles perform, and Ray was high that night. After playing for a long time, the manager came out and announced that the show was finished, and Ray replied, "This is my show, I say when it is finished." He kept playing and my friend had to get to work, but there was no way he was going to miss any of it, until they finally had to escort Charles off the stage. I saw him perform in 1970 with the Supremes, but it was after Diana Ross left. |
| Honest and Lovable Pa Stark | |
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| mort bakaprevski | Mar 11 2009, 09:12 AM Post #9 |
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Soony Roony!
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Hey!! Here's a good article about the recent Thelonious Monk tributes at Town Hall in New York: http://www.slate.com/id/2213230/ |
| “You’ve got to take the bitter with the sour.” | |
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