BNJ-61011

More Genius Of Thelonious Monk

Released - February 21,1985

Recording and Session Information

WOR Studios, NYC, October 15, 1947
Idrees Sulieman, trumpet; Danny Quebec West, alto sax; Billy Smith, tenor sax; Thelonious Monk, piano; Eugene Ramey, bass; Art Blakey, drums.

BN309-1 Evonce (alternate take)
BN310-2 Suburban Eyes (alternate take)

WOR Studios, NYC, October 24, 1947
Thelonious Monk, piano; Eugene Ramey, bass; Art Blakey, drums.

BN312-0 Nice Work (alternate take)
BN313-0 Ruby My Dear (alternate take)
BN314-1 Well You Needn't (alternate take)
BN315-0 April In Paris (alternate take)

WOR Studios, NYC, November 21, 1947
George Taitt, trumpet; Edmund Gregory, alto sax; Thelonious Monk, piano; Robert Paige, bass; Art Blakey, drums.

BN320-7 Who Knows (alternate take)

WOR Studios, NYC, May 30, 1952
Kenny Dorham, trumpet #1-4; Lou Donaldson, alto sax #1-4; Lucky Thompson, tenor sax #1-4; Thelonious Monk, piano; Nelson Boyd, bass; Max Roach, drums.

BN434-2 tk.3 Skippy (alternate take)
BN435-1 tk.5 Hornin' In (alternate take)
BN436-0 tk.8 Sixteen
BN436-1 tk.9 Sixteen (alternate take)
BN439-0 tk.12 I'll Follow You

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Evonce (Alternate Master)	Sulieman-Quebec	October 15 1947
Suburban Eyes (Alternate Master)	Ike Quebec	October 15 1947
Nice Work If You Can Get It (Alternate Master)	Gershwin	October 24 1947
Ruby My Dear (Alternate Master)	Thelonious Monk	October 24 1947
Well You Needn't (Alternate Master)	Thelonious Monk	October 24 1947
April In Paris (Alternate Master)	Duke-Harburg	October 24 1947
Side Two
Who Knows (Alternate Master)	Thelonious Monk	November 21 1947
Skippy (Alternate Master)	Thelonious Monk	May 30 1952
Hornin' In (Alternate Master)	Thelonious Monk	May 30 1952
Sixteen (Take One)	Thelonious Monk	May 30 1952
Sixteen (Take Two)	Thelonious Monk	May 30 1952
I'll Follow You	Turk-Ahlert	May 30 1952

Liner Notes

Thelonious Monk was just a week over thirty years old when he got his first chance to record as a leader for Blue Note records. He had been on the scene for quite a while and had worked gigs in a variety of musical situations and styles. His most famous deeds had been his participation and tunes in the early days of be-bop in 1040 at Minton's and his association during the next few years with Coleman Hawkins.

No one knew what to make of this strange, self-reliant man. They called him one of the fathers of be-bop, but his music seemed to be the opposite of that style. He did not believe in endless solos or mere chord changes and he did not believe in making riff melodies to put onto the chords of standard tunes. He envisioned his own totally original music, which demanded completely fresh compositions and soloists with the ability and desire to improvise on all of the ingredients of the compositions. For this reason, he never assembled bands with well-known names. Rather, he found intelligent, creative young players who would rise to the challenge of his original material. His attitude towards the virtuoso escapades of boppers was evident in his own playing. He had, despite the ramblings of too many critics, a superb technique on the piano, yet he would only play whatever made sense to him and lay out when he had nothing to offer. This applied to piano solos as well as accompaniment.

At the age of thirty, like most artists in any field, Monk was fully formed. His Blue Note sessions, done in swift succession, seemed to be a vital exciting outpouring of all of the compositions and ideas that he had stored up in him. He would go on to make many great recordings throughout his life, but none seem so fresh and so powerful as the Blue Note years.

This album is a companion of previously issued material from the Monk sessions on BLP 1510 and BLP 1511.

Tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec, who from 1944-46 had recorded 5 superb sessions as a leader for Blue Note, was the man who convinced Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff to move into modern jazz. One of his favorite musicians was Monk. For Monk's first date, Quebec contributed two originals. "Evonce", co-written with Idrees Sulieman, and "Suburban Eyes". One wonders why Monk, with so many originals already written, would use someone else's material on his first date, but he must have genuinely like these tunes, because he often played "Suburban Eyes" live during this period.

The alternate take of "Evonce" is the second of five taken. The master was the fifth one. Here the tempo is slower and the format was to have been alto sax and trumpet splitting one chorus, followed by tenor sax and piano splitting the next. But Sulieman gets lost during his 16 bars, and he ends up taking a whole other chorus to get his bearings while the band follows him. Billy Smith's tenor solo here is better and more graceful than the original master. And Monk takes a very different solo that starts off with a rhythmic phrase from "Thelonious".

The master of "Suburban Eyes" was the second take, while this alternate is the third and final take. On the alternate, Monk's solo seems more fluid, the alto seems to be taking more chances and the trumpet is stronger and more confident.

Two weeks after that session, on October 24, 1947, Monk did an engaging trio date. From this, we have drawn four alternate takes. The first is "Nice Work If You Can Get It", a standard which he played at Minton's in 1940 and at his last record date in 1972. The alternate was the first take of the session and is far more exciting than the master. He uses the same basic format and arrangement with his never-ending coda, but here he gets off two inspired, convulted choruses of amazing beauty, drive and brilliance with the most unorthodox rhythmic phrasing and harmonies that one could imagine. Yet it all sounds right!

Conversely, the alternate first take of "Ruby My Dear" is a much straighter reading of this brilliant composition from the master.

In my ten years of going through the entire Blue Note vault, no discovery excited me so much as the alternate take of "Well, You Needn't", which was the second take. Monk adds many grace notes in other places, almost shaping an entirely new composition. It has an excitement and life which the master take does not. The piano solo is more dense and active than the original take.

Like "Ruby My Dear", the alternate of "April In Paris", which is the first take, is lighter and more conservative in approach, but interesting nonetheless. Playfully, he starts the solo chorus with a paraphrase from the bridge of the tune.

From Monk's first session, a month later, comes a dynamic alternate of "Who Knows", which was cut at the end of the session. The master used by Blue Note was the tune's first take early in the date. After all four tunes were finished, the band tried a few more takes of it, and this the eighth takes closed the day. Here Shihab solos first and his entrance is absolutely dazzling, worthy of Bird. Monk's solo is not as sparse as the master, but has the same feel and deliberateness and tension against rhythm.

The album closes with five selections from Monk's final Blue Note date in 1952. This is one of the least recognized and most spectacular of Monk's career. First of all, the tunes are so incredible that few have attempted to play them since. Secondly, Monk is at his most complex and astonishing as a pianist. The impossible "Skippy" is offered in an alternate take that has one of the most amazing of Monk's career with layers and layers of ideas and textures. An impossibly brilliant solo on an impossible tune to play. Likewise on his beautifully orchestrated "Hornin' In", his solo is a total achievement, a passing view of his genius. And here Lou Donaldson seems to shine brighter than he does on the master take.

"Sixteen" is quite the discovery. Monk had never recorded or performed this tune before or after this session. An undiscovered Monk composition actually laid for decades in the Blue Note vaults!

"I'll Follow You" is a tentative, absorbing reading of a forgotten standard by the team that wrote "Mean To Me". This discovery is Monk's only performance of the tune.

Here then is a worthy addition to the most exciting period in the life on of one of Jazz's most exciting creators: Thelonious Sphere Monk.

-MICHAEL CUSCUNA