Before getting into the discs, I'd say check out 2 great sources...
Thelonious Monk: Portrait of an American Composer...
This is a tremendously enjoyable video. It features TS Monk, (Monk's son),
Monk's sister, Orrin Keepnews, Barry Harris, Billy Taylor, and, the star for
me, Randy Weston. It is really nice and a great introduction. Lots of great
live Monk performances, it is too bad!
Another great resource is a book by Laurent de Wilde called "Monk." It is
pretty short (200 pages, I think) but it is not a dry history; it's an
explanation of the philosophy of Monkism, I think, and it will really whet
your appetite. That said....
Monk plays Ellington... outta sight.... Monk with Coltrane is mindblowing
(don't get the 5 spot one unless you can tolerate terrible acoustics...)
Heck, all Monk is incredible. The really nice sounding stuff, acoustics
wise, is, in my opinion, the CBS Masterworks reissues. But the Prestige
recordings are none too shabby, and the Blue Note recordings have good
historic value...
----- Original Message -----
From: <BARONI@humnet.ucla.edu>
To: <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2000 10:26 PM
Subject: monk
> One of the many holes in my culture: I never seriously listened to
> Thelonius Monk. From which album should I start?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Marco
>
>
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