Today is the 103rd anniversary of Thelonious Monk’s birth. Monk changed music forever with his fantastic (and catchy!) compositions as well as his unique approach to music and stubborn dedication. He’s forever an inspiration for those who give their lives to an idea, a craft, or a vision. And Monk won in the end – there is no other composer from the mid 20th century whose music has been so influential. To celebrate this influence I’m posting some of my favorite covers of Monk’s songs, with my thoughts about the performance. It’s Monk’s time!Bye-Ya
Jane Bunnett-Don Pullen
New York Duets (Music and Arts, 1990)
Jane Bunnett – soprano sax, Don Pullen – piano
A spirited performance of a very fun tune! Bunnett gives three choruses that build logically, with great sound and spontaneity. Pullen is typically outrageous and amazing. His incredible rhythmic strength is a perfect match for playing Monk. Fortunately, there’s more of a same on Pullen Plays Monk, which is highly recommended. More from Pullen on this site soon! He’s one of my all time favorites.Monk’s Mood
Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition
Album Album (ECM, 1984)
Jack DeJohnette – Synthesizer and drums, David Murray – Tenor Saxophone, John Purcell – Alto Saxophone, Howard Johnson – Baritone Saxophone
There are lots of great covers of Monk’s Mood, one of the composer’s most memorable pieces. This one stands out to me for it’s interesting arrangment, which obviously owes a lot to the World Saxophone Quartet (the synthesizer fills in for the fourth horn). I wonder how much credit goes to Murray? No matter who’s responsible, this performance holds up.Rhythm-A-Ning
Cedar Walton
The Maestro (Muse, 1981)
Cedar Walton – piano, Bob Berg – tenor saxophone, David Williams – bass, Billy Higgins – drums
Walton used Rhythm-A-Ning as a burning vehicle, and this performance really shows off the strength of this band. Berg eats up the changes in his exciting solo. The real star though, is the marvelous togetherness of the trio behind Berg. Even at this blistering tempo, Walton, Williams and Higgins somehow sound relaxed, and play the accents of this arrangement with a startling group precision.Brake’s Sake
Ben Riley’s Monk Legacy Septet
Memories of T (Concord, 2006)
Ben Riley: drums; Don Sickler: trumpet and arrangement; Bruce Williams: alto saxophone, Jimmy Greene: tenor saxophone, Jay Brandford: baritone saxophone; Freddie Bryant: guitar, Peter Washington: bass
From the best Monk tribute not by Steve Lacy, the pianoless arrangements capture Monk’s wittiness and rhythmic propulsion. The musicians here all rise to the challenge – each of the solos sparkle. Riley – Monk’s drummer through the 60’s – contributes playing that is subtle and amazing.We See
Ellery Eskelin
The Secret Museum (Hatology, 2000)
Ellery Eskelin – Tenor Saxophone, Andrea Parkins – Accordion, Jim Black – Drums
I just had to include this crazy performance! It’s an absurd rave up/deconstruction of Monk’s tune. There’s nothing else like it.Hornin’ In
Sphere
Sphere (1998, Verve)
Kenny Barron – Piano, Gary Bartz – Alto Saxophone, Buster Williams – Bass, Ben Riley – Drums
This performance is a refined contrast to the raucous Eskelin track above. The group Sphere was dedicated to making Monks’ tunes part of the repertory, and the elan displayed on this, one of Monk most difficult compositions, shows the result of that dedication. Barron’s solo in particular is fantastic!In Walked Bud
Steve Lacy Four
Morning Joy: Live at Sunset Paris (Hatology, 1989)
Steve Lacy – Soprano Saxophone, Steve Potts – Alto Saxophone, Jean-Jacques Avenal – bass, Oliver Johnson – drums
When Monk’s reputation was in obscurity in the 1950’s, one of his acolytes was Steve Lacy, who formed a band with Roswell Rudd that played nothing but Monk tunes (captured on the album School Days). Even after Lacy developed into a distinctive composer and concentrated on the performing his own tunes, he continued to carry the Monk torch. Recorded at the Sunset Paris club in 1986, the band is really on fire. The way that Lacy and Potts play unison lines is really special, and the support from Avenal and Johnson is stellar. It’s a shame that you can hear there’s maybe a dozen people in the audience – a fate that Monk had to contend with as well. May our heroes always have an audience to appreciate their art!James Koblin
Avant-Dance
Julius Hemphill – Dogon A.D.
Personnel: Julius Hemphill – alto sax, Baikida Carroll – trumpet, Abdul Wadud – cello, Phillip Wilson, drums
Unfortunately Dogon A.D. has been name-dropped more than heard, owing to it’s scarcity. In Ben Ratliff’s “A Critic’s Guide To The 100 Most Important Jazz Recordings”, citations to where to buy the discussed records are conveniently provided. Dogon A.D. is the only record out of this “top 100” where Ratliff’s book (published in 2002) simply states it’s “out of print.” For this reason exposing new listeners to this record has always been a public service, and is a great way to christen this blog!
Recorded in winter 1972 in St. Louis by the then little known Hemphill, Dogon A.D. was self released on his own Mbari label. The original pressing was only 500 copies; it was rereleased in 1975 on the Arista/Freedom label, but has largely been unavailable since. Hemphill performed Dogon A.D. live again and again during his career, with a variety of arrangements which included with vibes and bass, with guitars and for a big band. It was original conceived as a sextet (check out the original Mbari album cover below), but was first performed as the quartet posted above. Hemphill treated Dogon A.D. as a touchstone, and it’s his most important composition.
Original Mbari Record Cover, 1972. Check out the personnel depicted – it seems to have been originally conceived as a sextet?
This performance is the original and is certainly definitive. It demonstates that avant-garde music can be direct, easy to follow, and really burning! The rhythm is economically generated by Wilson’s pulsating beat, which is locked into wave after wave of vamps created by Wadud’s cello. Hemphill’s solo immediately stamps this track as a classic, employing blues vocabulary contrasted with dissonent notes, to great effect. Like all great solos, it takes us on a journey. This intensity is effectively contrasted with the atmospheric and more relaxed solo by Carroll.
What does the mysterious title of the piece refer to? In a terrific intervew with Bomb magazine, Hemphill states:
“The title refers to the African tribe in Mali called the Dogon. . . the A.D. stands for adaptive dance, and I had in mind a dance all along. I read an article about how the Dogon had decided to reveal some of their sacred dance ritual, to attract the tourist trade. I had seen some of the dancing on video, and I had read a little about the Dogon and their cosmic view, and it was quite extraordinary. They have been proclaiming the existence of a companion star to Sirius, which could not be seen. And finally, Western scientists have telescopes that can see it. So how did these people living in these mud huts know this about the solar system? Like elliptical orbits, and all of these uncanny things. The Dogon seemed to be singular in their beliefs; they claim that they were visited by star people, and they have drawings of some of these events that they had kept hidden. There were a lot of fairly mind-boggling stories. And what they understand about the planets, without a telescope, mind you, researchers, especially French and British researchers, have been trying to poke at for 40, 50 years. The real clincher was the discovery of the star Sirius B, as it is called, and it’s there, like they said it was. The orbit for this invisible star to come around Sirius takes 55 years. And every 55 years the Dogon have a festival. So, I find them extraordinary and unique among Africans.”
You can hear the source inspiration in this music. It is dance like, but the rhythm is explicty African and quite advanced – just try to count out it’s slippery 11/8 meter! Part of Dogon’s A.D. accessibility is that it has one foot grounded in blues expression and the other in the avant garde. It places a direct, urgent vocabulary in a cliche free advanced form. Reviewing a Hemphill concert for the New York Times where Dogon A.D. was performed, Robert Palmer describes the captivating duality of “in” and “out” in this music: “Mr. Hemphill simultaneously invented a new style and drew on the reassuring kinetic qualities of an old one. But a fruitful dialogue between experimentation and tradition informs all his music, and that is what makes it so fascinating and so valuable.”
Listen and judge for yourself!
James Koblin
Photo of Hemphill, courtesy of the Integrated Arts People
Welcome!
From Jesse: Hello everyone! This is a blog started by me (Jesse) and my dad (James). We both love progressive music of all varieties, so we’re creating this blog to voice our thoughts on our favorite music.
My dad has been listening to jazz his whole life, and that means I’ve been, too. It created a love of experimental music in me that came back around when my music tastes became jazz-infused, leading to progressive subgenres. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!
Today, we hope to create this blog and share our passions with the world; highlighting both discovery of the new and celebration of music as old as the Blues!
From James: Yes, welcome to The Necessary Blues! Our goal here is to dive into music that we believe is essential, but that you may not have heard before. There is so much great music in the world but much of it will disappear from our ears without a guide to light the way. We hope that by sharing our passion we can spread some of the beauty and wisdom created by these great musicians.
Why The Necessary Blues? This blog is not really about the Blues at all – at least not the musical form called the Blues. Instead, our focus is on the essence of “The Blues” – music that has the same urgency, the language of expression and flexibility to convey individual identity. Our focus is on experimental and progressive music that has been overlooked or forgotten and share the qualities that make this music essential. Not all Blues here, but all The Necessary Blues!
Jesse Koblin and James Koblin