Thelonious Monk - Wikipedia
Thelonious Monk - Wikipedia
Thelonious Monk - Wikipedia
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk[2] (/θəˈloʊniəs/, October 10, 1917[3] –
Thelonious Monk
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," "Blue Monk,"
"Straight, No Chaser," "Ruby, My Dear," "In Walked Bud," and "Well, You
Needn't." Monk is the second-most-recorded jazz composer after Duke
Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed more
than a thousand pieces, whereas Monk wrote about 70.[4]
Monk was renowned for a distinct look which included suits, hats, and
Background information
sunglasses. He was also noted for an idiosyncratic habit during Birth name Thelonious
performances: while other musicians continued playing, Monk stopped, Sphere Monk
stood up and danced for a few moments before returning to the piano. Born October 10, 1917
Rocky Mount,
Monk is one of five jazz musicians featured on the cover of Time magazine.
North Carolina,
The others, so far, are Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington and
U.S.
Wynton Marsalis.[6][7]
Died February 17,
1982 (aged 64)
Englewood, New
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Thelonious Sphere Monk was born two years after his sister Marion on Website monkzone.com
October 10, 1917, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and was the son of (http://www.monk
Thelonious and Barbara Monk. His badly written birth certificate zone.com/)
misspelled his first name as "Thelious"[8] or "Thelius." It also did not list
his middle name, taken from his maternal grandfather, Sphere Batts.[9] A brother, Thomas, was born in January 1920.
In 1922, the family moved to 243 West 63rd Street, in Manhattan, New York City; the neighborhood was known as San
Juan Hill because of the many African-American veterans of the Spanish–American War who lived there (urban
renewal displaced the long-time residents of the community, who saw their beloved neighborhood replaced by the
Amsterdam Housing Projects and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts). Monk started playing the piano at the age
of six and was largely self-taught. He attended Stuyvesant High School, a public school for gifted students, but did not
graduate.[10]
Mary Lou Williams, who mentored Monk and his contemporaries, spoke of Monk's rich inventiveness in this period,
and how such invention was vital for musicians, since at the time it was common for fellow musicians to incorporate
overheard musical ideas into their own works without giving due credit. "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."[12]
In 1944 Monk made his first studio recordings with the Coleman Hawkins Quartet. Hawkins was one of the earliest
established jazz musicians to promote Monk, and the pianist later returned the favor by inviting Hawkins to join him
on a 1957 session with John Coltrane.
In her autobiography, Gordon spoke of the utter lack of interest in Monk's recordings, which translated to poor sales.
"I went to Harlem and those record stores didn't want Monk or me. I'll never forget one particular owner, I can still see
him and his store on Seventh Avenue and 125th Street. 'He can't play lady, what are you doing up here? The guy has
two left hands.' 'You just wait,' I'd say. 'This man's a genius, you don't know anything.'"[13]
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Due to Monk's reticence, Gordon became his mouthpiece to the public. In February of 1948, she wrote to Ralph
Ingersoll, the editor of the newspaper PM, and described Monk as "a genius living here in the heart of New York,
whom nobody knows." As a result, one of PM's best writers visited Monk to do a feature on him, but Monk wouldn't
speak to the reporter unless Gordon was in the room with him. In September of the same year, Lorraine approached
Max Gordon, the owner and founder of the Village Vanguard jazz club, and secured Monk his first gig there. Monk was
showcased at the club for a week, but not a single person came.[13]
In August 1951, New York City police searched a parked car occupied by Monk and his friend Bud Powell. They found
narcotics in the car, presumed to have belonged to Powell. Monk refused to testify against his friend, so the police
confiscated his New York City Cabaret Card. Without this, Monk was unable to play in any New York venue where
liquor was served, and this severely restricted his ability to perform for several years. Monk spent most of the early
and mid-1950s composing, recording at Blue Note, and performing at theaters and out-of-town gigs.
In 1954, Monk paid his first visit to Paris. As well as performing at concerts, he recorded a solo piano session for
French radio (later issued as an album by Disques Vogue). Backstage, Mary Lou Williams introduced him to Baroness
Pannonica "Nica" de Koenigswarter, a member of the Rothschild family and a patroness of several New York City jazz
musicians. She was a close friend for the rest of Monk's life, including taking responsibility for him when she and
Monk were charged with marijuana possession.
On Brilliant Corners, recorded in late 1956, Monk mainly performed his own music. The complex title track, which
featured Rollins, was so difficult to play that the final version had to be edited together from multiple takes. The
album, however, was largely regarded as the first success for Monk.
After having his cabaret card restored, Monk relaunched his New York career with a landmark six-month residency at
the Five Spot Cafe in the East Village neighborhood of New York beginning in June 1957, leading a quartet with John
Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Wilbur Ware on bass, and Shadow Wilson on drums. Little of this group's music was
documented owing to contractual problems: Coltrane was signed to Prestige at the time, but Monk refused to return to
his former label. One studio session by the quartet was made for Riverside, three tunes which were not released until
1961 by the subsidiary label Jazzland along with outtakes from a larger group recording with Coltrane and Hawkins,
those results appearing in 1957 as the album Monk's Music. An amateur tape from the Five Spot (a later September
1958 reunion with Coltrane sitting in for Johnny Griffin) was issued on Blue Note in 1993; and a recording of the
quartet performing at a Carnegie Hall concert on November 29 was recorded in high fidelity by Voice of America
engineers, rediscovered in the collection of the Library of Congress in 2005 and released by Blue Note.
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"Crepuscule with Nellie," recorded in 1957, "was Monk's only, what's called through-composed composition, meaning
that there is no improvising. It is Monk's concerto, if you will, and in some ways it speaks for itself. But he wrote it
very, very carefully and very deliberately and really struggled to make it sound the way it sounds. [... I]t was his love
song for Nellie," said biographer Robin Kelley.[15]
The Five Spot residency ended Christmas 1957; Coltrane left to rejoin Davis's group, and the band was effectively
disbanded. Monk did not form another long-term band until June 1958 when he began a second residency at the Five
Spot, again with a quartet, this time with Griffin (and later Charlie Rouse) on tenor, Ahmed Abdul-Malik on bass, and
Roy Haynes on drums.
On October 15, 1958, en route to a week-long engagement for the quartet at the Comedy Club in Baltimore, Maryland,
Monk and de Koenigswarter were detained by police in Wilmington, Delaware. When Monk refused to answer the
policemen's questions or cooperate with them, they beat him with a blackjack. Though the police were authorized to
search the vehicle and found narcotics in suitcases held in the trunk of the Baroness's car, Judge Christie of the
Delaware Superior Court ruled that the unlawful detention of the pair, and the beating of Monk, rendered the consent
to the search void as given under duress.[16]
Working with producer Teo Macero on his debut for Columbia,[17] the sessions in the first week of November had a
lineup that had been with him for two years: tenor saxophonist Rouse (who worked with Monk from 1959 to 1970),
bassist John Ore, and drummer Frankie Dunlop. Monk's Dream, his first Columbia album, was released in 1963.
Columbia's resources allowed Monk to be promoted more heavily than earlier in his career. Monk's Dream became the
best-selling LP of his lifetime,[18] and on February 28, 1964, he appeared on the cover of Time magazine, being
featured in the article "The Loneliest Monk."[19] According to biographer Kelley, the 1964 Time appearance came
because "Barry Farrell, who wrote the cover story, wanted to write about a jazz musician and almost by default Monk
was chosen, because they thought Ray Charles and Miles Davis were too controversial. ... [Monk] wasn't so political. ...
[O]f course, I challenge that [in the biography]," said Kelley.[15]
Monk continued to record studio albums, including Criss Cross, also in 1963, and Underground, in 1968. But by the
Columbia years his compositional output was limited, and only his final Columbia studio record, Underground,
featured a substantial number of new tunes, including his only waltz time piece, "Ugly Beauty."
As had been the case with Riverside, his period with Columbia contains many live albums, including Miles and Monk
at Newport (1963), Live at the It Club, and Live at the Jazz Workshop, the latter two recorded in 1964, the last not
being released until 1982. After the departure of Ore and Dunlop, the remainder of the rhythm section in Monk's
quartet during the bulk of his Columbia period was Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums, both of whom joined
in 1964. Along with Rouse, they remained with Monk for over four years, his longest-serving band.
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'Good morning,' 'Goodnight,' 'What time?' Nothing. Why, I don't know. He sent word back after the tour was over that
the reason he couldn't communicate or play was that Art Blakey and I were so ugly."[20] A different side of Monk is
revealed in Lewis Porter's biography, John Coltrane: His Life and Music; Coltrane states: "Monk is exactly the
opposite of Miles [Davis]: he talks about music all the time, and he wants so much for you to understand that if, by
chance, you ask him something, he'll spend hours if necessary to explain it to you."[21] Blakey reports that Monk was
excellent at both chess and checkers.[22]
The documentary film Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988) attributes Monk's quirky behavior to mental
illness. In the film, Monk's son says that his father sometimes did not recognize him, and he reports that Monk was
hospitalized on several occasions owing to an unspecified mental illness that worsened in the late 1960s. No reports or
diagnoses were ever publicized, but Monk would often become excited for two or three days, then pace for days after
that, after which he would withdraw and stop speaking. Physicians recommended electroconvulsive therapy as a
treatment option for Monk's illness, but his family would not allow it; antipsychotics and lithium were prescribed
instead.[23][24] Other theories abound: Leslie Gourse, author of the book Straight, No Chaser: The Life and Genius of
Thelonious Monk (1997), reported that at least one of Monk's psychiatrists failed to find evidence of manic depression
(bipolar disorder) or schizophrenia. Another physician maintains that Monk was misdiagnosed and prescribed drugs
during his hospital stay that may have caused brain damage.[23]
As his health declined, Monk's last six years were spent as a guest in the Weehawken, New Jersey, home of his long-
standing patron and friend, Pannonica de Koenigswarter, who had also nursed Parker during his final illness. She
proved to be a steadfast presence, as did his own wife Nellie, especially as his life descended into further isolation.[11]
Monk did not play the piano during this time, even though one was present in his room, and he spoke to few visitors.
He died of a stroke on February 17, 1982, and was buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. In 1993, he
was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[25] In 2006, he was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for "a
body of distinguished and innovative musical composition that has had a significant and enduring impact on the
evolution of jazz."[26]
The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz was established in 1986 by the Monk family and Maria Fisher. Its mission is to
offer public school-based jazz education programs for young people around the globe, helping students develop
imaginative thinking, creativity, curiosity, a positive self-image, and a respect for their own and others' cultural
heritage. In addition to hosting an annual International Jazz Competition since 1987, the Institute also helped,
through its partnership with UNESCO, designate April 30, 2012, as the first annual International Jazz Day.
Monk was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.[27]
Tributes
Soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy performed as Monk's accompanist in 1960. Monk's tunes became a permanent
part of his repertoire in concert and on albums. Lacy recorded many albums entirely focused on Monk's
compositions.
Gunther Schuller wrote the work "Variants on a Theme of Thelonious Monk" in 1960. It was later performed and
recorded by other artists, including Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, and Bill Evans.
Round Midnight Variations is a collection of variations on the song "'Round Midnight" premiered in 2002.
Composers contributing included Milton Babbitt, William Bolcom, David Crumb. George Crumb, Michael
Daugherty, John Harbison, Joel Hoffman, Aaron Jay Kernis, Gerald Levinson, Tobias Picker, Frederic Rzewski,
Augusta Read Thomas, and Michael Torke.[28]
Tribute albums
The following tribute albums to Monk have been released:
Four in One (1982) by Sphere: the band was named after Monk, and the album was coincidentally recorded on
the day of his death
Thelonica (1983), by pianist Tommy Flanagan
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Light Blue: Arthur Blythe Plays Thelonious Monk (1983), by saxophonist Arthur Blythe
That's The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute To Thelonious Monk (1984), a compilation album featuring rock and jazz
musicians including Donald Fagen, Todd Rundgren, Peter Frampton, Carla Bley, Joe Jackson, Gil Evans and
Was Not Was.
Six Monk's Compositions (1987) (1987), by Anthony Braxton
Carmen Sings Monk (1988), by Carmen McRae
Thelonious Sphere Monk: Dreaming of the Masters Series Vol. 2, by Art Ensemble of Chicago with Cecil Taylor
Epistrophy (1991), by pianist Ran Blake
e.s.t. Esbjörn Svensson Trio Plays Monk (1996), by e.s.t.
Standard Time, Vol. 4: Marsalis Plays Monk (1999), by Wynton Marsalis
Green Chimneys: The Music of Thelonious Monk (1999), by Andy Summers
Monk's Casino (2005), a triple CD set that includes every composition by Monk, by free jazz pianist Alexander
von Schlippenbach
An Open Letter to Thelonious (2008), by Ellis Marsalis
In Monk's Mood (2009), by John Tchicai
Melodious Monk: A New Look At An Old Master (2011), by Kim Pensyl and Phil DeGreg
The Monk Project (2012), by Jimmy Owens
Baritone Monk (2012), by The Claire Daly Quartet
Joey. Monk. Live! (2017), by Joey Alexander
John Beasley presents MONK'estra vol. 1 (2016), by John Beasley
John Beasley presents MONK'estra vol. 2 (2017), by John Beasley
Discography
References
1. Yanow, Scott. "Thelonious Monk" (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/thelonious-monk-p106839/biography).
AllMusic.com. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
2. "Thelonious Monk (American musician)" (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/389556/Thelonious-Monk).
Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
3. Kelley, Robin D.G. (2010). Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of American Original. London: JR Books. p. 1.
The source identifies the day of Monk's fortieth birthday in 1957.
4. Giddins, Gary; DeVeaux, Scott (2009). Jazz. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06861-0.
5. Larkin, P. All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961-1971. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-13476-2
6. Time cover (http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19640228,00.html), February 28, 1964. Retrieved
December 22, 2010.
7. 1&Ntt=jazz&x=23&y=10 Search of Time covers for "jazz" (https://archive.is/20120716214817/http://search.time.co
m/results.html?N=46&Nty=1&Ns=p_date_range). Retrieved December 22, 2010.
8. Solis, Gabriel (2007). Monk's Music: Thelonious Monk and Jazz History in the Making (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=BZqWxvNKGSYC&pg=PA19). University of California Press. pp. 19–20. ISBN 9780520940963.
9. Mathieson, Kenny (2012). Giant Steps: Bebop and the Creators of Modern Jazz, 1945–65 (https://books.google.c
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10. Kelley, Robin D. G. (2009). Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original (https://books.google.c
om/books?id=jk3Bx7KfdO8C&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=thelonious+monk+stuyvesant&source=bl&ots=9WFJYQ_
dmQ&sig=QPqxXadR4c0MyyNevV8vwhSFwKU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NP-QUqeIOqGosATV34HQBg&ved=0CCsQ6A
EwADgK#v=onepage&q=thelonious%20monk%20stuyvesant&f=false). Free Press. pp. 13, 31. ISBN 978-0-684-
83190-9. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
11. Bliek, Rob van der (February 22, 2001). The Thelonious Monk Reader (https://books.google.com/books?id=59q5
NRQLcjgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false). Oxford University
Press. ISBN 9780199761470.
12. "Mary Lou Williams Interview" (http://www.ratical.org/MaryLouWilliams/MMiview1954.html). Melody Maker, 1954.
Ratical.org. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
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13. Gordon, Lorraine (2006). Alive at the Village Vanguard: My Life in and Out of Jazz Time. Hal Leonard
Corporation. pp. 63–65. ISBN 978-1-61774-916-2.
14. Miles: The Autobiography with Quincy Troupe. p. 80.
15. "Looking At The Life And Times Of Thelonious Monk" (http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?story
Id=132133171), transcript of interview with Robin D.G. Kelley by Terry Gross on Fresh Air, NPR; conducted in
2009, replayed December 17, 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
16. State v. De Koenigswarter, 177 A.2d 344 (Del. Super. 1962).
17. Marmorstein, Gary. The Label The Story of Columbia Records. New York: Thunder's Mouth, 2007, pp. 314–315.
18. Monk, Thelonious. Monk's Dream. Columbia reissue CK 63536, 2002. Liner notes, p. 8.
19. Gabbard, Krin (February 28, 1964). "The Loneliest Monk" (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,873
856,00.html). Time. 83 (9). Retrieved November 12, 2007.
20. Voce, Steve (August 1, 2005). "Obituary: Al McKibbon" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070311052203/http://www.
findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20050801/ai_n14828122). The Independent. Findarticles.com. Archived
from the original (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20050801/ai_n14828122) on March 11,
2007. Retrieved November 12, 2007.
21. Porter, Lewis (1998). John Coltrane: His Life and Music. University of Michigan Press. p. 109. ISBN 0-472-10161-
7.
22. "Art Blakey: Bu's Delights and Laments," by John B Litweiler in Downbeat magazine, March 25, 1976.
23. Gabbard, Krin (Autumn 1999). "Evidence: Monk as Documentary Subject". Black Music Research Journal. Center
for Black Music Research — Columbia College Chicago. 19 (2): 207–225. doi:10.2307/779343 (https://doi.org/10.
2307%2F779343). JSTOR 779343 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/779343).
24. Spence, Sean A (October 24, 1998). "Thelonious Monk: His Life and Music" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/art
icles/PMC1114134). British Medical Journal. BMJ Publishing Group. 317 (7166): 1162A.
doi:10.1136/bmj.317.7166.1162a (https://doi.org/10.1136%2Fbmj.317.7166.1162a). PMC 1114134 (https://www.nc
bi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1114134) . PMID 9784478 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9784478).
25. "GRAMMY.com — Lifetime Achievement Award" (https://web.archive.org/web/20060207022240/http://www.gram
my.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Lifetime_Awards/). Past Recipients. National Academy of Recording Arts
and Sciences. Archived from the original (http://www.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Lifetime_Award
s/) on February 7, 2006. Retrieved November 12, 2007.
26. "The 2006 Pulitzer Prize winners: Special Awards and Citations" (http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2006-Special-Aw
ards-and-Citations). The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved November 12, 2007.
27. "2009 Inductees" (http://northcarolinamusichalloffame.org/category/inductees/2009-inductees/). North Carolina
Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
28. "Matthew Quayle: Introduction to the Round Midnight Variations" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110714045743/ht
tp://www.matthewquayle.com/Pieces/Round_Midnight_Variations.html). Web.archive.org. Archived from the
original (http://www.matthewquayle.com/Pieces/Round_Midnight_Variations.html) on July 14, 2011. Retrieved
July 9, 2017.
External links
Official site (http://www.monkzone.com/)
Memorial Page (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/723/thelonious-monk)
Thelonious Monk's birth certificate (https://web.archive.org/web/20030126213019/http://www.sojazz.org/monkthel
onious01.html)
Thelonious Monk at All About Jazz (https://web.archive.org/web/20061118175258/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/ph
p/musician.php?id=9507)
Not So Misterioso: Robert Christgau on Monk (http://robertchristgau.com/xg/bn/2009-12.php)
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