John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
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Artist: John Coltrane, Thelonious MonkBrand: MONK,THELONIOUS
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-09-27
Music Label: Blue Note Records
Soundtracks:
- Monk's Mood
- Evidence
- Crepuscule with Nellie
- Nutty
- Epistrophy
- Bye-Ya
- Sweet and Lovely
- Blue Monk
- Epistrophy [Incomplete Take]
Music reviews of Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
Music Review: Monk and Coltrane Together Again- This Time as it Should Be
Rating: 5 Stars
I was more than alittle surprised by some of the negative feedback on this album, but after looking over some of those "reviews" I can see that the criticisms are of a cultural nature and have nothing to do with the music itself. The vein of criticism aimed at Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane (and it is aimed at them as cultural figures, not as artists) is similar to what you'll find if you look at the review page for, say the film "Citizen Kane". People write a review saying its boring, or that "Star Wars" was the greatest movie of all time, and the undercurrent of though here is that this is "high brow" and the water-heads writing these reviews are made to feel inferior by implication since they don't get it. It's a shame that rather than putting the effort into understanding something like the work of Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, or Orson Welles on its own terms, people feel it's better to immediately write it off since the work in question is beyond their initial grasp, and by doing so they justify, in a pathetic, infantile way, their ignorance. They might reflect, with whatever respect they are capable of, that Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, as men and artists, poured their whole beings into the music they loved, and as a result their timeless works are massive sonic tributes to the passion and ability that permeated their art. This review isn't for those sad, damaged people who hate what they can't understand, this is for people who understand something of Monk and Coltrane, or atleast want to. "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall" is what knowledgeable fans have been praying for, a recorded documentation of Coltrane with Thelonious after he's assimilated the lessons of Monk into his playing. Prior to this the only recording we had to hang our hats on was "Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane", and while that is a fine album it's place in the jazz pantheon was perhaps overinflated due to the simple fact that it was all there was of the two jazz giants together. But while the Riverside recordings showed a tentativeness in Coltrane's playing (understandably so since this was at the beginning of their association together) the Carnegie Hall performance gives only evidence of Coltrane's mastery of Monk's brilliant, individualistic composing and playing style. It should be pointed out that by this time Coltrane's long period of apprenticeship was coming to a close, besides all that he learned with Earl Bostic, Dizzy Gilespie, and others in the early years, he had also finished his hardbop work with Miles Davis resulting in a series of albums that rank near the top of the hardbop idiom (Relaxin', Steamin', Cookin', and Workin'). After Miles punched the mild-mannered Coltrane at the close of a concert, Thelonious Monk, who witnessed the incident, invited John to join his group. It was certainly a fortuitous event for Coltrane as moving on from one master to the next taught him much about timing and space (of which Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis were the undisputed masters) in jazz that would later inform work under his own leadership. As a fan and listener of Monk and Coltrane I approached the Carnegie Hall recording with high expectations and far from being disappointed I felt that we finally were given the gift of these two artists at their integrated best, which was written about in such glowing terms by writers who were fortunate enough to hear them during their long tenure at the Five Spot. The music here is all from the pen of Monk, and since this is his group it is obviously more of a Monk centered album than a Coltrane one. As such it is interesting to listen to Coltrane and what he does within the confines of the Monk tunes, and then compare that to the other great tenorists who interpreted Monk: namely Charlie Rouse, Johnny Griffin, and Sonny Rollins. Whoever your personal favorite accompanist was it is safe to say that Coltrane more than holds his own with any of them. In an interview Johnny Griffin stated that far from the generally accepted idea that there is allot of space in Monk's tunes, and therefore they are ideal vehicles for a tenor saxophonist to weave in and out of, in actuality the space in Monk's tunes are rather constrictive, and so to accompany Thelonious correctly is much more difficult than it might appear (a theory proved by the Riverside recording with Coltrane). Keeping this in mind it is rather astounding that on this album Coltrane seems to be much smoother than usual. For the most part the jagged edges in his playing are filed over, and we hear on a song such as "Crepuscule with Nellie" an almost silky, blues drenched playing that is closer to the integrated accompaniment of Rouse than the more white-hot blowing of Griffin. For his part Monk is at his best, jaunty, humorous, and very much alive in his playing. You can almost see him tapping his feet and doing that little dance he did when the music was really going right. An interesting side note is that this concert at Carnegie Hall was also the debut of Sonny Rollins at the hollowed institution, which he is commemorating this month (sept. 2007) with a 50th anniversary performance. It would be very interesting if we could some day hear that performance as well. In closing, with this album we have the long admired collaboration of Monk and Coltrane at their very best evident for all to hear, that is if we possess the ears to listen and the heart to understand this beautiful music. It couldn't be more highly recommended.
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Description of Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
Australian pressing. This never-before heard jazz classic documents one of the most historically important working bands in all of Jazz history, a band that was both short-lived and, until now, thought to be frustratingly under-recorded. The concert, which took place at the famed New York hall on November 29, 1957, was preserved on newly-discovered tapes made by Voice of America for a later radio broadcast that were located at the Library of Congress in Washington DC earlier this year. Blue Note. 2005.Every year sees a crop of newly found jazz gems, but rarely are listeners treated to anything as special as this 1957 concert recording of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, which was accidentally discovered in an unmarked box by a Library of Congress engineer early in 2005. Until now, fans could only dream of hearing these two immortals play together beyond the three studio tracks they left behind. But here they are, hitting their stride at an all-star benefit concert, basking in the chemistry they had developed in Monk's quartet during the preceding weeks at New York's Five Spot. Coltrane's playing is a revelation. He's both an inspired accompanist and a galvanizing soloist, taking the music to new heights with his bold, brilliantly challenging, and sometimes jaw-dropping phrases, note clusters, and blasts of power. Sharing with Coltrane a newfound sense of freedom following the personal and professional troubles that had plagued them both, Monk is clearly tickled to be in the tenorist's presence, injecting humorous commentaries and otherwise asserting his eccentric genius as a pianist. The material, which was very well recorded by the Voice of America, includes Monk classics like "Epistrophy," "Monk's Moods," and "Evidence," as well as a striking rendition of the standard "Sweet and Lovely." This is music that not only bears repeated listenings, but also demands them--the ultimate definition of a classic. --Lloyd Sachs
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