Thelonious Monk Live

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Spotmaticfanatic, Jan 11, 2019.

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  1. lschwart

    lschwart Senior Member

    Location:
    Richmond, VA
    I've always had a thing for the live recording from Newport in 1963, especially the two tracks with Pee Wee Russell that originally appeared on the Miles and Monk at Newport album (side 2). The whole set from '63 was available for a while on the set called, Monk Live at Newport 1963 and 1965, but I don't know what its status is now.

    And I agree with the recommendations of the Carnegie Hall set with Coltrane and the It Club set.

    L.
     
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  2. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    My favorite Monk is the Blue Notes, especially as heard in the singles collection. I love the Prestige trio dates, all the 50s solo albums -- Thelonious Himself, Alone in SF and the Paris date. I love Monk's Music and Brillant Corners. I love the 5 Spot recordings with an on-fire Johnny Griffin. And I adore the studio quartet sides from '57 with Coltrane. The '60s stuff rarely gets any play from me.
     
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  3. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Any vinyl you can recommend for this stuff or is it all CD? Thanks
     
  4. Spotmaticfanatic

    Spotmaticfanatic Lost my shape, trying to act casual. Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    The Blye Note stuff is available in a collection called the Genius Of Modern Music, Vol. 1 and 2, and there’s a nice Prestige 10” LP box set. Most of his catalogue seems to be available on vinyl.
     
  5. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    Though I have to say, listening to the Blue Notes in singles-release order via the most recent remaster on 'Round Midnight: The Complete Blue Note Singles, really changed my experience of the Blue Note material vs. the Genius of Modern Music releases or the complete, session order box sets that have been issued by Mosaic and Blue Note. I don't think there's ever been a vinyl release on the singles collection, but it's my preferred way to listen to the Blue Note material by far (of course, one could always try to collect the original 78s for the real, hardcore, original vinyl experience).

    I grew up with the old OJC vinyl pressings of the Prestige and Riverside stuff -- Monk's Music and Brilliant Corners and Trio and Himself and Alone in SF, etc., and they're great on vinyl. A lot of this stuff has been reissued on all kinds of specialty audiophile vinyl over the years (and Alone in SF is kind of a small audiophile classic). But of course all this stuff was originally released on vinyl and has been reissued a lot over the years on vinyl, so there are lots of options. I've never replaced any of the old OJCs I've had for decades with other vinyl copies, so I have any insight into the caliber of what's currently available. I love the fact that there are boxes like the Presitge box that put out the original 10" configurations though with the original art, vs. the 12" compendiums I grew up with. In a lot of cases, Prestige in particular, mixed and matched sessions for the 12" era that didn't always make sense (not so much with Monk, but definitely with Miles). I like the idea that you can go back now and listen to the original 10" lineups (I do that with streaming sometimes since I'm not going to buy new copies of music on 10" LP I already own on 12" LP).
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2019
  6. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    I have the same priorities. Have all the 60s albums but for a pure shot of Monk it's the Blue Notes.
     
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  7. Spotmaticfanatic

    Spotmaticfanatic Lost my shape, trying to act casual. Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    I generally prefer to get stuff as it was meant to be presented. My only complaint about the 10” collection is having to get up every 9-12 minutes to flip a side. Hard to do once the whiskey has been poured!
     
  8. Spotmaticfanatic

    Spotmaticfanatic Lost my shape, trying to act casual. Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    Well, it's settled. I just order Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane Live at Carnegie Hall, and Misterioso. Should hopefully have the Carnegie Hall set sometime this weekend! Misterioso? Depends on how quickly Amazon can find it in the back corners of the warehouse, I guess...
     
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  9. tug_of_war

    tug_of_war Unable to tolerate bass solos

    I finally got the 1982 version of "Live At The It Club". I love this muddy, reverbed mix. And the quartet really cooks!
     
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  10. John DeAngelis

    John DeAngelis Senior Member

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I agree!
     
  11. Spotmaticfanatic

    Spotmaticfanatic Lost my shape, trying to act casual. Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    I picked this up on vinyl recently. Great set. The recordings from this period are usually pretty enjoyable, as the quartet was fairly stable, and had some time toreally get to know the songs well.
     
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  12. smitquest

    smitquest Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lancaster, NY, USA
    is big band and quartet live in concert the only columbia era release that wasn't remixed and re-released on cd without the purple border on the cover?

    smitquest
     
  13. Gdgray

    Gdgray Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Tampa
    Live at the Five Spot- Discovery
    Monk with Trane.
    Recording not great but the music is, what a great fit. It was CD issue from Blue Note in 1993.
     
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  14. Monk 1963 In Japan (Early Bird, CD). May 23, 1963, TV broadcast. Monk/Rouse/Warren/Dunlop. A shorter set than Monk In Tokyo from a few days earlier, but at 37 minutes it's a perfect condensation, and the band's on fire. Sounds great.
     
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  15. Valkenburg

    Valkenburg Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hawaii
    Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall solely for the transcription of Monk's 1952 trio "Little Rootie Tootie" solo for full orchestra. Overall, the playing is pretty ragged; this ain't the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

    Start at about 7:00 in.
     
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  16. LongHairedJazz

    LongHairedJazz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    Does anyone else who has an early Monk at Town Hall (Black Label, me) notice that ride or some cymbal aspect sounds like soft white noise in the right channel? When Monk is solo it's gone but when them drums is drumming it sounds Bad. Could it be just my copy?
     
  17. Thap Doverty

    Thap Doverty Active Member

    Location:
    London, UK
    I love 'Live at the Blackhawk' from 1960. The quartet +2 line-up is fairly unique for Monk recordings - Harold Land and a relatively early Charles Rouse trading saxophone solos. I especially enjoy the swing of Billy Higgins' drums on it. If I remember correctly Higgins ended up on the date due to Shelly Manne becoming unavailable at the last moment (although regretfully I can't recall where I read that). If so that's quite fascinating in that the drums are such a part of the character of the date, eg. the tom intro to Worry Later.
    Great selections: Worry Later, Let's Call This, I'm Getting Sentimental Over You, a quite rare airing of Four in One. Inspired soloing with a relaxed atmosphere about the proceedings and I love the sound of the recording (on the 1987 OJC CD that is my point of reference, anyway), even though there are times when one can nearly pick out audience chatter (or is that the voice of Orrin Keepnews near to a mic?!)

    Anyway, highly recommendable to anyone unfamiliar with it.
     
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  18. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    Orrin Keepnews wrote that they planned to do a collaboration of Monk and Shelly Manne in the studio, but it didn't work out and Manne left. They did the live record with the same band but with Billy Higgins replacing Manne. Some tracks from the studio with Manne are on the Complete Riverside box set.
     
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  19. Thap Doverty

    Thap Doverty Active Member

    Location:
    London, UK
    Ah - thanks for that. Wish I had that complete Riverside box, I remember hearing a stunning Round Midnight from it, I think from the San Francisco studio sessions (maybe with Manne then). I got most of the albums separately but perhaps one day I'll take the plunge on it.
     
  20. Lexhibit

    Lexhibit Forum Resident

    Love that album, Monks Mood is worth the price of admission
     
  21. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    As far as Monk’s 1960’s love work is concerned, I also enjoy Monk In Tokyo, which is somewhat overlooked in my opinion.
     
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  22. Gdgray

    Gdgray Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Tampa
    If you like early Monk , this stuff is killer for me. Not live still sounds fresh IMHO.

    Monk's Moods
    Prestige Vinyl Compliation of tracks from 1952-1954 from three sessions
    with Art Blakey , Percy Heath and Max Roach.
    10 strong tracks of early Monk including some that appear on BN , mostly his orginial tunes
    and a couple standards.

    By the way song Monk's Moods is not on this record.
     
  23. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    Towards the end of the 80s vinyl era, I got the twofer Thelonious Monk from Prestige which has everything he did for them (or at least close), great stuff.
     
  24. Ken.e.

    Ken.e. Spinning music since...

    I personally always return to the Live At The It Club album. I have the 1998 Complete version with full length versions of the tracks. Great release that makes you feel you are at the club watching Monk get up do his dance.

    I would love to have a nice vinyl version of the Complete It. I do wish they would do Tone Poet like versions of Columbia Jazz albums. There were some great sounding albums and great music too.
     
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  25. Jon-A

    Jon-A Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    OK, In Action isn't Monk's best live album - but its 5 Spot companion Misterioso is. I just came from a thread that thinks Jimi Hendrix was dreary, so hearing that Monk & Johnny Griffin at the 5 Spot is all a bit second rate has me very apprehensive about looking out the window to see what kind of universe I now live in..

     
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