Thelonious Monk - I Like Jazz: The Essence of Thelonious Monk (1991) CD-Rip

Tracks

01. 'Round Midnight
02. Bemsha Swing
03. Ruby, My Dear
04. Criss Cross
05. Well You Needn't
06. Bye-Ya
07. Thelonious

Personnel

Thelonious Monk - piano
Charles Rouse - tenor saxophone
John Ore - bass
Frankie Dunlop, Ben Riley - drums

Pianist/composer Thelonious Monk may have been jazz's first "minimalist"; not in the sense of "repetition" as in the music of Terry Riley and Steve Reich, but in the notion of the fewest notes played for maximum effect. Monk would never play a flurry of notes when one note would do. He was also one of jazz's great humorists, not as a joke-teller, but as a composer. Listen to the quirky, slightly daffy melodies of "Criss Cross" and "Bye-Ya"--they're rich with the humor and elegance of Pablo Picasso or Groucho Marx. Monk composed one of the most popular and enduring of tunes in jazz history, the rhapsodic yet blues-tinged "'Round Midnight." THE ESSENCE OF THELONIOUS MONK collects a dandy sampling of the early-to-middle '60s recordings Monk made for Columbia. He's presented solo, and in quartet format with his right-hand-man, the great tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse. This is a fine place to get a taste of this jazz legend.