There are many interesting facts floating around about Monk: he is second only to Duke Ellington as the most recorded jazz composer despite his lack of original compositions (70); he is credited as one of the founders of Bebop among other greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, and Charlie Parker; he had a large personality including an unique style of dress and the penchant for dancing in the middle of a song for a bit before settling back to play again.
I love him for his "difficult" music, his piano skills, his hand in shaping the evolution of jazz from hot jazz to bebop to cool jazz, and his unparalleled ability to make every song his own through hisparticular style of composition. This album specifically exhibits the latter of these - this album is made up of seven standards allowing him to showcase his differences and abilities among the multitude of other musicians who recorded the same pieces.
The trio is Monk on piano, Art Blakey on drums, and Oscar Pettiford on bass. "Liza (All the Clouds'll Role Away)," a Gershwin tune, is short but upbeat. Blakey and Monk alternate intricate solos both incredibly fast and equally interesting. Monk's parts are incredibly repetitive, but he does each slightly differently without missing a beat between them, so fast that it's a surprise whether he'll repeat his current motive or switch to the next without pause. Despite the winding piano line or the rhythmically intricate drum solos from Blakely the song doesn't lose its melodic charm - they always end the phrase with it.
"Memories of You" originally composed by Eubie Blake is much darker in contrast. The tempo has slowed, the dissonances are piled on top of each other, and Monk is on his own. His haunting rendition is pensive and serves the title well.
"Honeysuckle Rose" is by another famed jazz pianist, Fats Waller. The mood here is playful amidst ragtime-esque stride piano, Monk sets up multiple, seamless chromatic runs down the piano followed by experiments on the melody, a hammering of single notes, then building on this. The hammering becomes chords then it becomes a rhythm of chords, then he suddenly breaks it all down again by playing the notes of the chords one at a time, but as fast as his fingers will fly. This pieces demonstrates many styles and abilities of the new Riverside artist ready to implement his radical techniques into his own compositions (which is exactly what he does on Brilliant Corners), but this album would help assimilate it with the listener's ears by showcasing it on familiar songs first.
Another contrast, "Darn that Dream" is slower and more reflective. Here the interest lies in the harmonic and chromatic choices. "Tea for Two" begins in this same dissonant vein. It stalls and starts like a broken machine then after a flourish, rights itself and Pettiford joins in. Suddenly, soon there after, the recognizable melody takes hold, but Monk works on it bit by bit, adding his own touches in many different realizations. "You Are Too Beautiful" is whimsical as if it comes from a music box and Monk is absorbed in thinking about his beloved. It's simpler and slower and provides a glimpse into Monk's emotive abilities.
The album ends on a jazzy note with the trio on "Just You, Just Me". Monk deftly shows off his dexterity with quick runs, hammering chords, and slippery melodies with a musicality all his own.
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