''Monk'' (Prestige PRLP 7053) is a 1956 compilation album by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

, featuring material recorded from 1953 to 1954 for the

Prestige Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.) Prestige may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films * ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnet ...

label and performed by Monk with two quintets, one featuring

Julius Watkins Julius Watkins (October 10, 1921 – April 4, 1977) was an American jazz musician who played French horn. Described by AllMusic as "virtually the father of the jazz French horn", Watkins won the ''Down Beat'' critics poll in 1960 and 1961 for M ...

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a ...

Percy Heath Percy Heath (April 30, 1923 – April 28, 2005) was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout ...

, and Willie Jones and one featuring Ray Copeland, Frank Foster,

Curly Russell Curly is a surname, given name, nickname or stage name. It may refer to: First name, nickname or stage name * Crazy Horse (1840–1877), Oglala Sioux war chief nicknamed "Curly" * Curly (scout), nickname of Ashishishe (c. 1856–1923), Crow In ...

, and

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...

.Thelonious Monk discography
accessed 9 October 2009 It was originally titled both ''Thelonious Monk'' n its 1956 coverand ''Thelonious Monk Quintets''

n its labels N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

(PRLP 7053). Over the following decade, it was also re-released as ''Wee See'' (PRLP 7245) and ''The Golden Monk'' (PRST 7363) The most common cover art (with the ''Monk'' title), is 1958 revision, designed by

Reid Miles Reid Miles (July 4, 1927 – February 2, 1993) was an American graphic designer and photographer best known for his work for Blue Note Records in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Reid Miles was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 4, 1927 but, ...

Background

Most of the recordings on this album first appeared on two 10" LPs: ''

Thelonious Monk Quintet Blows for LP ''Thelonious Monk Quintet Blows for LP (featuring Sonny Rollins)'' is a 10" LP by American jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, performed by Monk's Quintet. It was originally released in 1954 as the second of five 10-inch LP albums by Monk fo ...

'' (Prestige PrLP 166) and '' Thelonious Monk Quintet (with Frank Foster, Art Blakey)'' (Prestige PrLP 180), both released in 1954. (This LP release added an additional take of "Think of One.") Chris Sheridan, in his book ''Brilliant Corners: A Bio-discography of Thelonious Monk'', dates the first 12-inch vinyl release of the album—''Thelonious Monk'' (Prestige PRLP 7053)—to 1956. Its release was preceded in the Prestige 12-inch catalog of Monk's work by ''

Thelonious Monk Trio ''Thelonious Monk Trio'' is an album by American jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk. The album features his earliest recordings for Prestige Records, performing as a soloist with a rhythm section of bassist Gary Mapp (originally credited a ...

'' (Prestige PRLP 7027), and followed by ''

Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins ''Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins'' is a compilation album by jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk and saxophonist Sonny Rollins released in 1956 by Prestige Records. The tracks on it were recorded in three sessions between 1953 and 1954. W ...

'' (Prestige PRLP 7075).

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born October 4, 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.Allmusic Biography/ref> Biography Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Since 1974, he was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles an ...

states "Every Thelonious Monk recording is well worth getting although this one is not quite essential".

Track listing

:''All compositions by Thelonious Monk except as indicated'' Side 1 #

"We See" - 5:16 #

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical '' Roberta''. The song was sung in the Broadway show by Tamara Drasin. Its first recorded performance was by Ge ...

" (

Otto Harbach Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach (August 18, 1873 – January 24, 1963) was an American lyricist and librettist of nearly 50 musical comedies and operettas. Harbach collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading B ...

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over ...

) - 4:34 #

"Locomotive" - 6:23 #

"Hackensack" - 5:13 Side 2 #

"Let's Call This" - 5:08 #

"Think of One"

ake 2 Ake (or Aké in Spanish orthography) is an archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It's located in the municipality of Tixkokob, in the Mexican state of Yucatán; 40 km (25 mi) east of Mérida, Yucatán. The name ...

- 5:47 #

"Think of One"

ake 1 Ake (or Aké in Spanish orthography) is an archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It's located in the municipality of Tixkokob, in the Mexican state of Yucatán; 40 km (25 mi) east of Mérida, Yucatán. The name ...

- 5:37 ;Notes * Side 1 recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, NJ, on May 11, 1954, and originally released in sequence as the 10" LP '' Thelonious Monk Quintet (with Frank Foster, Art Blakey)'' (Prestige PrLP 180) * Side 2 recorded at WOR Studios, New York City on November 13, 1953. Tracks B1 and B2 originally released as one side of 10" LP '' Thelonious Monk Quintet Blows For LP, Featuring Sonny Rollins'' (Prestige PrLP 166), and as 7" PrEP 1352. Track B3 previously unreleased.

Personnel

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Ray Copeland -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(tracks 1-4) * Frank Foster -

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

(tracks 1-4) *

- bass (tracks 1-4) *

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(tracks 1-4) *

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

(tracks 5-7) *

- tenor saxophone (tracks 5-7) *

- bass (tracks 5-7) * Willie Jones - drums (tracks 5-7)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monk Thelonious Monk albums 1954 albums Prestige Records albums Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio Albums with cover art by Reid Miles