Sunday, March 30, 2008

Thelonious Monk: “Round Midnight” (1966)



This is the Thelonious Monk Quartet playing “Round Midnight” in Norway in 1966.

Thelonious Monk is on the piano, Charlie Rouse tenor sax, Larry Gales bass, and Ben Riley drums.

Monk (1917 – 1982) was a jazz pianist and composer regarded as one of the founders of bebop although his playing style evolved in different directions. His compositions and improvisations are full of dissonant harmonies and angular melodic twists, and are impossible to separate from Monk's unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of silences and hesitations.

Round Midnight” is a 1944 jazz standard by Monk. It has been recorded with greater frequency than any other standard composed by a jazz musician.

You can see Monk perform “Epistrophy” here and “Blue Monk” here.

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