Monk's Music

Monk's Music is an album by Thelonious Monk's jazz septet. It was recorded in New York City on June 26, 1957, and released in October the same year.

Monk's Music
Studio album by
Thelonious Monk
ReleasedOctober 1957[1][2][3]
RecordedJune 25-26, 1957
StudioReeves Sound Studio, New York City
GenreJazz
Length38:24
LabelRiverside Records
ProducerOrrin Keepnews
Thelonious Monk chronology
Thelonious Himself
(1957)		 Monk's Music
(1957)		 Mulligan Meets Monk
(1957)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [4]
Pitchfork9.1/10[5]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[6]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[7]

Recording and music

The first song, "Abide With Me"—a hymn by W. H. Monk—is played only by the septet's horn section. The song "Ruby, My Dear" is performed only by Monk, Coleman Hawkins, Wilbur Ware, and Art Blakey. John Coltrane had joined Monk after playing with the Miles Davis Quintet, and Monk can be heard enthusiastically calling on him ("Coltrane! Coltrane!") to take the first horn solo on the album in "Well, You Needn't." All of the songs except one are original compositions by Monk; all of the originals but "Crepuscule with Nellie" had appeared on previous Monk albums and singles in prior performances.

Mono vs. stereo

This was the first Thelonious Monk album recorded and released in both mono (RLP 12-242) and stereo (RLP 1102). The stereo version was released a year after the mono, in 1959. It has been noted that the mixes of these releases are extremely different. The stereo mix, while featuring the same performances as does the mono version, used an entirely different set of microphones, suspended from the ceiling, while the mono release used microphones in closer proximity to the instruments. As a result, the stereo mix has a more distant sound and Wilbur Ware's bass is much less audible. [8]

Producer Orrin Keepnews explained:

Our new stereo series had begun with a sound effects disc, so Riverside 1102 [Monk's Music] was our first stereo jazz album. But we had to deal with the fact that the studio had not yet taken the drastic step of converting to the new process: the installed equipment at Reeves Sound Studios (on 2nd Avenue between 44th and 45th Streets in Manhattan) was still monaural. Thus, we had to improvise a dual system. Studio engineer Jack Higgins presided at his usual control panel; our staff engineer Ray Fowler was in the soundproof isolation booths in the studio with a newfangled portable stereo tape recorder. Thus, on this and several subsequent occasions, ‘binaural’ was an entirely separate operation. Among other things, every musician found himself surrounded by a doubled quantity of microphones.” [9]

In the notes to the 1986 Riverside Monk box, Keepnews wrote:

This was one of our very first stereo recordings (although the separate machine failed us on Crepuscule); confusingly, the monaural version has sometimes been used in reissues, but I have managed to include here in stereo form everything that is available in that form.[10]

The original stereo LP release did not list "Crepuscule with Nellie" on its label or cover track listing (although it was referenced in the liner notes), and did not include it on the album, though the mono version always included the piece. A circa-1965 stereo re-release with serial number RLP 12-9242 also skipped "Crepuscule with Nellie", even though it was listed on the label and cover. The 1967 "stereo" pressing (RS 3004) distributed by ABC Records was an "electronically reprocessed" version of the mono mix. A 1977 Japanese vinyl version appears to be the first true stereo release that also includes the (mono) "Crepuscule with Nellie".[11]

Reception

The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.[12]

Re-releases

The album was reissued by Original Jazz Classics on July 1, 1991.

Track listing

All songs by Thelonious Monk unless otherwise noted.

Side A

  1. "Abide with Me" (Henry Francis Lyte, William Henry Monk) – 0:54
  2. "Well, You Needn't" – 11:24
  3. "Ruby, My Dear" – 5:26

Side B

  1. "Off Minor" – 5:07
  2. "Epistrophy" (Monk, Kenny Clarke) – 10:46
  3. "Crepuscule With Nellie" – 4:38

(Note: "Crepuscule With Nellie" is missing from most or all true stereo vinyl releases of the album, even when listed, through at least the 1960s (see explanation above). In addition, the track, when listed, is misspelled as "Crepescule With Nellie" on the cover and label of most issues of the album.)

CD reissue

  1. "Abide With Me" – 0:54
  2. "Well, You Needn't" – 11:24
  3. "Ruby, My Dear" – 5:26
  4. "Off Minor (Take 5)" – 5:07
  5. "Off Minor (Take 4)" – 5:12
  6. "Epistrophy" – 10:46
  7. "Crepuscule with Nellie (Take 6)" – 4:38
  8. "Crepuscule with Nellie (Take 4 and 5)" – 4:43

Original Jazz Classics Remasters

  1. "Abide With Me" – 0:54
  2. "Well, You Needn't" – 11:24
  3. "Ruby, My Dear" – 5:26
  4. "Off Minor (Take 5)" – 5:07
  5. "Epistrophy" – 10:46
  6. "Crepuscule with Nellie (Take 6)" – 4:38
  7. "Off Minor (Take 4)" – 5:12
  8. "Crepuscule with Nellie (Takes 4 and 5)" – 4:43
  9. "Blues for Tomorrow" – 13:32

Personnel
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References
  1. "Riverside Issues New Tapes" (PDF). The Cash Box. The Cash Box Publishing Co. Inc. 26 October 1957. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  2. "New Releases". The Billboard. Billboard Publishing Co. 28 October 1957. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  3. Porter, Lewis [ed.] (2013). The John Coltrane Reference. New York/Abingdon: Routledge. p. 473. ISBN 1135112576.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  4. Planer, Lindsay. Monk's Music at AllMusic
  5. Ratliff, Ben (12 March 2017). "Monk's Music". Pitchfork. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  6. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 145. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  7. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  8. https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/thelonious-monk-monks-music-1957-riverside/
  9. https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/craft-recordings/
  10. http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?/topic/13945-sacd-of-monks-music-is-stereo/&do=findComment&comment=239316
  11. https://www.rootsvinylguide.com/ebay_items/thelonious-monk-septet-monk-s-music-1958-riverside-dg-lp-john-coltrane-near-mint--2
  12. "Grammy Hall of Fame". Grammy.org. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
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