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Monk’s List
It shouldn’t be surprising that even great jazz musicians compile personal lists of things to do. So here’s Thelonious Monk’s list of things to do at a gig — notes for himself as well as for others— as transcribed by Steve Lacy. From Open Culture.
-Nick Moy
Read more abut Monk’s list…
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Thelonious Monk - The London Collection Volume 1
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Mary Lou Williams on how Thelonious Monk’s playing style, and even his image was stolen.
“I considered myself lucky having men like Monk and Bud playing me the things they had composed. And I have always upheld and had faith in the boppers, for they originated something but looked like losing credit for it. Too often have I seen people being chummy with creative musicians, then — when the people have dug what is happening — put down the creators and proclaim themselves king of jazz, swing or whatever. So the boppers worked out a music that was hard to steal. I’ll say this for the ‘leeches’, though: they tried. I’ve seen them in Minton’s busily writing on their shirt cuffs or scribbling on the tablecloth. And even our own guys, I’m afraid, did not give Monk the credit he had coming. Why, they even stole his idea of the beret and bop glasses.”
Pictured is Mary Lou Williams and Thelonious Monk. On the far left is Marian McPartland. The picture was taken at the gathering for the ‘A Great Day in Harlem’ photo by Art Kane.
The quote is from a transcribed Mary Lou Williams interview from Melody Maker in 1954. It’s well worth the read. (Source)

"It’s always night, or we wouldn’t need light."

- Thelonious Monk
5 months ago     23 notes     Reblog
atane:

Thelonious Monk
Photo by Jim Marshall
jazzrelatedstuff:

thesorrowsofgin:
Sept. 19: Monk.
Outtakes from Robin D. G. Kelley’s Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original:‘The original draft of Thelonious Monk was much longer than the published. In fact, I cut out some 70,000 at the behest of my editor, much of it focused on the music. Not surprisingly, a few critics and most of my friends wanted more discussion of Monk’s music, not less. So I decided to include a few excerpts from the original manuscript that might be of interest. Warning: these are unedited sections and I left them pretty much as is.’ [Read More]
–Robin D. G. Kelley
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Indestructible
tornandfrayed:

Thelonious Monk by Eddy Posthuma de Boer.

Gary Giddins interviews Sonny Rollins

April 14, 2008 | CUNY Lecture Series, Graduate Center

Jazz giant Sonny Rollins is routinely referred to as “the greatest living tenor saxophone” by his peers. National Book Award-winning jazz critic Gary Giddins has called him “jazz’s most provocatively enigmatic man.” The two come together in a rare conversation at the Graduate Center to talk about Rollins’ remarkable musical life, which has spanned six decades. Rollins, 77, recalls starting to play the sax at 7 years old and, by age 19, having recorded with such jazz legends as J.J. Johnson and Bud Powell. “I wasn’t intimidated by those guys,” says Rollins. “Somehow I always had a sense of my destiny.”

6 months ago     1 note     Reblog