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Just wanted to share...
I hadn't been that much of a Thelonious Monk fan and had not learned many of his tunes. Earlier this year I started playing with some guys that really knew a lot of them and could play them well. I was stuck reading charts for these tunes - some of these tunes are really hard and I found reading them on a first run through to be extremely difficult (and frustrating!)
Steve Cardenas has an excellent Monk transcription book (just heads) called the Thelonious Monk Fake Book. If you don't have it, I highly recommend it. When I'm trying to get really inside a tune I usually would learn it by ear, but in this case I was just more trying to get some familiarity so I could play the tunes at a passable level in the sessions I was going to. The book is great. It's only $20, has a great intro, all the charts are very clear, sound good, and any oddities are explained thoroughly.
If you haven't yet dug into some of his tunes I'd highly recommend it. If you're at about the same "level" I'm at then they can be tough to trudge through but very rewarding. His melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic sensibilities are really unique and I feel that just learning and playing his tunes has helped my playing a lot and opened up a lot of doors.
"Ask Me Now" is one that I've been working on. To me, it seems so strange at first but with a little analysis the tune makes a lot of sense...getting inside the tune even just on paper has been very rewarding and exciting.
Lastly, Kurt Rosenwinkel's renditions of Monk tunes on his "Standards Trio" CD really take my breathe away too. Insanely masterful chord melody arrangements of already quite difficult tunes. If you're in the same place I'm in of just getting feet wet with monk, those are some amazing takes to check out as well. That album completely blows my mind, and I had never really been a huge Kurt fan until hearing it.
Anyway, end ramble, carry on...
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09-16-2011 08:52 AM
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What a coincidence! I was looking to see if there was a copy of Kurt's version of Reflections floating around out there only yesterday. I don't have the time to transcribe it.
Originally Posted by JakeAcci
I couldn't find one.
anybody out there have a copy?
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Thanks for the info and for starting a thread on Monk. Long overdue around here, imo. Where do I start with Monk? Well, of course, Round Mid is a mandatory tune for any jazzer; I love Ephistrophy to the nth degree--check out the Carnegie Hall with Coltrane performance; Criss Cross is awesome... I could go on forever... just love his tunes! Looking forward to gaining more insight here from players who have learned his tunes. Originally Posted by JakeAcci
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I really like Peter Bernstien's Monk album, you should check it out
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Joshua Breakstone has one "Let's Call it Monk" from 1998 or so that's pretty good as well.
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Kurt's version is amazingly beautiful with his counterpoint. Jonathan Kreisberg also does a wonderful version of 'Ask Me Now' on I believe his 'New for Now' album.
Last edited by Jzzr; 09-16-2011 at 11:06 AM.
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I'll second Jake H on the Bernstein CD. Outstanding.
Me too, and with Monk's stuff that can be really hard. Read any bio on him and they always mention how he wouldn't give cats sheet music, even though he had it, because he wanted them to learn the tunes by ear. These of course were cream of the crop players and many of them had difficulties and would beg him for the charts. Try playing "Brilliant Corners" without a chart. I think my head would explode. Bernstein eats that tune up. Love it. Great thread.When I'm trying to get really inside a tune I usually would learn it by ear, but in this case I was just more trying to get some familiarity so I could play the tunes at a passable level in the sessions I was going to.
And this is worth seeing:
http://www.amazon.com/Thelonious-Mon...6186920&sr=8-1
Produced by Clint Eastwood.Last edited by paynow; 09-16-2011 at 11:29 AM.
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Oh right the Bernstein album. I don't own it, but have heard cuts from it, really great. Very different than Rosenwinkel's more glossy interpretation, but great.
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It's on my dream/to-do list to transcribe it. I really want to HEAR that stuff! Originally Posted by JohnW400
What a coincidence! I was looking to see if there was a copy of Kurt's version of Reflections floating around out there only yesterday. I don't have the time to transcribe it. I couldn't find one.
anybody out there have a copy?
It's just insane to me...maybe once I transcribe it I'll be much less spellbound, but his mastery of voice leading for all the voices present just completely blows my mind. Those tracks are so exciting to listen to, he really makes Monk his own.
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One of the first more quirky monk tunes I learned was Bye Ya. I know some amazing musicians who think of this tune as very difficult, but I think of it as one of his easier ones. I tread the IV7 to Imaj7 as sort of a "backwards blues" if that makes any sense, the bridge is fairly conventional. The only real oddity is the E7 to B7, but nobody says we have to clearly articulate that change every time it comes around. Originally Posted by whatswisdom
There are a lot of them and they really do vary in difficulty. Some of them are just rhythm changes or blues with some odd hits, or something similar to that level, while Trinkle-Tinkle has a head that makes Inner Urge look like Autumn Leaves!
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"Ask me now" is very beautiful and it has been a favorite of mine for many years with its chromaticly descending II-V cadences. Originally Posted by JakeAcci
I like Monks music a lot. It's very ideosyncratic and at first listening it seems edgy and strange. But many tunes of his are actually very schematic and have their own inner strict logic. When studying lead sheets, some of them has an almost graphical artistic quality to the notation on the paper itself - many patterns are repeated in several ways through a tune. Check out "Misterioso". His music is often drily witty. His own piano playing can move with the elegance of a freight train but yet it has a lot of drive and swing.
"The sound of Jazz" TV session from 1957 is best known for Billie Holidays "Fine and Mellow" with Lester Youngs deeply moving solo as well as the intense swing of the Basie all star band. But Monks trio was also at the same session - with Basie sitting alongside Monks piano, joyfully grinning as he listens to and watches Monk. (Go get that DVD if you haven't already!! Jazz doesn't get better than that).Last edited by oldane; 09-16-2011 at 12:13 PM.
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I found this very exciting and also masterful. For those of you with short attention spans, the band comes in 2:25. Kind of a fast interpretation of this "ballad" - tough! Go Joe! The double time stuff is fun.
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LOL Originally Posted by JakeAcci
Brilliant Corners; Four in One. Those are huge challenges too. I think Jackieing is also. BTW, check out Anthony Braxton's "Six Monk's Compositions." Fabulous album.
Last edited by whatswisdom; 09-16-2011 at 01:15 PM.
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I've played four in one at sessions before...I don't play the head..and I'm never the one who calls it!
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I always felt that Monk's rhythmic sense was pure funk.
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How do you guys like Steve Khan & Donald Fagen's version of "Reflections"?
I've got this on vinyl. Very nice album, imho! A little glossy compared to Monk, who seems to take some of his glory from inglorious, modest tones.
I've been trying--when it comes to mind--to get a fairly-priced copy of Khan's "Evidence" album for years. I believe it is all or mostly Monk tunes, performed on solo guitar. (Grain of salt, please.) By the looks of things, I may have to buy a vinyl LP and dub it to CD.
Anybody ever heard it?
Amazon.com: Evidence: Steve Khan: Music
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Liked Marial Solal's playing in that second vid', jazzbow. Originally Posted by jazzbow
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Hey Jake
Monk's a world unto himself. There's a couple of books by Gary Wittner-guitar versions of Monk's tunes, as Monk himself played them, those great voicings and the whole approach. A lot of times people play Monk tunes but not like he did, not really getting "inside" those things his compositions point to. A few people do. I like Bernstein's recordings. On a Hal Galper recording called Ivory Forest, Scofield plays a solo version of Monk's Mood. It's just Sco alone and it's deep. Check it out.
Here's some good stuff:
Enjoy
David
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Is Hans the PDQ Bach of Jazz? That is so funny. Thanks David for posting.
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That he is. He also happens to be none other than Larry Goldings, genius first call piano player to such players as Scofield and Jim Hall.
It's much harder to pull off a spot on informed comedy than to be straight ahead serious, at times anyway. Hans ist die Scheise!!
David
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Yeah, I just like that clip, I think it was a rehearsal session, there's another clip, 'west coast blues' I think. Anyhoo, Originally Posted by M-ster
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@jazzbow: Check out the version of Green Dolphin Street from the same rehearsal.
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Gary Wittner has a great (but difficult) book, Thelonius Monk for Guitar.
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