The Unique Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Monk

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.

Odessey and Oracle - The Zombies

I wanted to write about this album immediately following Costa's Unfamiliar Faces because this is an album literally straight out of the 1960s, but this time I don't mean it as a criticism, in fact the exact opposite.  There's poppy piano, there repetition to the point of losing the melody, there's that soft male voice (although this time, accompanied by a chorus at certain points), and there's the singer/songwriter style of lyrics, BUT the comparison ends there.  The Zombies album is much more integrated, musically sound, and therefore lasting.  Their previous albums contained cover songs and singles making Odessey and Oracle their only true album.  Luckily this one album is well done, despite budgeting, mixing, and deadline issues.  I can't get "This Will Be Our Year" out of my head and "Care of Cell 44" will be on repeat for awhile.  The middle of the album really brings out the Baroque pop element with lots of harpsichord and vocal harmonizing.  Its not my style really, but I can appreciate it I suppose.  The single everyone knows, "Time of the Season" falls at the end of the album, an unusual place for the hit single.

Only the Lonely - Frank Sinatra

In 1958, Sinatra released another album of loneliness and loss with Capitol Records, again the result of his, now finalized, divorce from Ava Gardner, compounded with the recent family deaths of his frequent collaborator, Nelson Riddle.  Arguably portraying a perfect Everyman, Sinatra invites the listener to wallow in close to an hour of despondency.  A song less and perhaps the effect would be broken, but after twelve sad songs in row, you can't help but empathize.  It seems that even the instruments and tempo have fallen into this trap.  Every so often the music presents a spark of hope.  I swore at the beginning of "Angel Eyes" that this album might not be complete gloom, but it really is only a spark.  Sinatra's voice overcomes the orchestra and almost seems to mock it, feigning cheer, but is quick to succumb to the real melancholy behind it.  "Willow Weep for Me" is a personal favorite.  The melody sounds like the willow rocking in the wind, a soothing image, despite his plea for the willow.  "Goodbye" has to be the saddest song on the album.  The solo opening reminds me of the haunting opening of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and at times Sinatra's voice fades out at the end of his "goodbye" like smoke into the air.  "One for My Baby" seems almost like a codetta to the album.  Set at a piano bar, hear the piano accompaniment, Sinatra steps outside of himself, coming to terms with heartbreak, with the universality of this all-to-common emotion.  He slides with the melody, gets kicked out of the bar as it closes and takes one more for the road.  The sadness isn't gone, but its time to move on and take it somewhere else.  The music fades out with a slow arpeggiated piano chord, at the low end of the piano, "well that's how it goes."

Only the Lonely was a favorite of the public and Sinatra alike.  It's easy to see why, even after a single listen.  One of the few great albums to really embodied those times when you need to immerse yourself in your sadness and only music understands.

Songs for Swingin' Lovers - Frank Sinatra

Once again I'm struck by the command in Sinatra's voice.  It is instantly apparent that this album is much more uplifting than In the Wee Small Hours, if not from listening, from the album cover and title alone.  Another masterpiece in collaboration with Nelson Riddle, arranger, and Capitol Records, it was his fourth studio album, released in 1956.  Many of the songs were taken from films or musicals of the 1930's, illuminating an association between film and popular music presented much differently today.  I'm no expert, but I might generalize that films back in the 1930's had more diegetic musical numbers than those of today.  The actors were not only actors, but also singers and dancers.  Today, it seems to me that popular music is produced and then subsequently selected to become part of the soundtrack of a film at least more often than the reverse.  These older movies are a different breed.  Apparently Riddle and Sinatra were looking to the past to assert the cultural virtues of the standards in a changing music industry.

Frank Sinatra appeared in quite a few films in his day from the 1940's through the 1980's.  My favorite would have to be Guys and Dolls with Marlon Brando.  I also enjoy Sinatra's 3 movie stint with Gene Kelly for what they are.  These all feature him in musical roles, but almost anything through 1959 is pretty good.

This album features some classic Sinatra recordings.  Composers such as Mercer, the Gershwins, and Cole Porter are almost always standard.  "Love Is Here to Stay" and "I've Got You Under My Skin" are sung by Sinatra like no one else.  They are typical favorites, but I could listen to them over and over.  After all, they're popular for a reason.

In the Wee Small Hours - Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra's voice enters like a dream.  It's so rich and smooth, it's almost hard to believe he's real.  I love this album - the gloom and melancholy that pervades the room while it plays.  As a whole, its a great work of art.  It would be difficult not to appreciate his treatment and interpretation of these jazz standards.

The album starts with the title track written for Sinatra. He is lying awake in the morning - the beginning of the album mirroring the beginning the day.  This song is an apt introduction to the rest of the album.  The theme is loneliness, unrequited love, lost love, etc.  Without knowing quite how to phrase this, I'll say that there is no traditional verse- chorus format which my ears are accustomed to.  I believe its still strophic form, with a phrase or two in each strophe, usually the title repeated to bring unity to the song, but a catchy hook and a chunk of music designated as chorus does not occur in most if not all of the songs on this album.  To me, this creates more of a stream of consciousness feel.  In a way, this is a more realistic way to portray dejection, creating a more authentic bleak, despondent atmosphere.  The second track, "Mood Indigo" is a jazz piece, composed by Duke Ellington and Barney Bigard a clarinetist in Ellington's band from the late 1920's to the early 1940's.  Sinatra pulls off the jazz phrasing smoothly, and puts his own mark on this jazz standard recorded by many great jazz vocalists and instrumentalists both before and after this release.  "Glad to Be Unhappy" interests me lyrically.  It's another characteristic sad love song, but points to a human quality perhaps not always articulated.  As miserable as love can sometimes be, do we not sometimes revel in that emotion?  It does allow us, or in this case Rodgers and Hart to write a great standard with universal appeal.  Again, it's one of the many tracks on this album to be recorded by a long list artists.  The rest of the album follows suite.  Sinatra sings about his broken heart backed by the orchestra.  His voice is overpowering and follows his own tempo that in turn follows the emotion of each song, but still never abandons or pulls his accompaniment.  There are two more Rodgers and Hart songs, a Cole Porter and a Harold Arlen - all names I recognize from Ella's Songbooks.  "Can't We Be Friends" is one of my instant favorites, composed by Kay Swift and important female composer of Tin Pan Alley with ties to Gershwin.

Frank Sinatra is famed to have perfected the concept album with this release in 1955 under Capitol Records.  It is his second collaboration with Nelson Riddle, featuring darker material than that in his days of bobby soxers appeal.  The album is full of contradictions, mostly of the lyrical variety and a careful listen pulled my emotion and understanding of each song back and forth only to be left unfulfilled at the end of each song.  It puts you in the head space of Sinatra and if you can relate to the events his sings about it works even better.  Althougth Sinatra's separation from Ava Gardner clearly made him less than happy, as we can hear, it sure is appreciated by music lovers and the lonely alike.

I've got a few more Sinatra albums on deck to listen to coming up.  I could get sidetracked awhile on Sinatra.  If you get a chance to read Reuben Jackson's poem "Frank" it's a good one and mentions the album.

The rules of the game

It's been done before - blogging through a list or book. More specifically, the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die has been the muse for numerous music enthusiasts to publish their album reviews online. While I admit it's not an inherently unique endeavor, I cannot pass up such a challenge. Albums I *must* hear before I die?  If they insist, then I accept.  Less famously 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die is also worth considering.  This list is more eclectic, containing a greater variety across genres including classical.  I'll also be looking at Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.  I'm anticipating there will be a lot of duplicates and that's just fine.  I plan on adding a lot of albums of my own interest.

There isn't an album I won't listen to at least once.  I believe everything is worth hearing.  What I hear might become the source of my next obsession, and I am always looking for new music to obsess over, or it might just be worth knowing about - something useful to add to another conversation about music.  That being said there are few things more satisfying than crossing an item off a list.  Normally a list with so many items or so would be daunting and overwhelming to say the least, but with a topic so intriguing, something I would pursue list or no list, I just can't resist.  Although I've already heard a number of these albums, I plan to peruse each book and attempt to recreate my initial fascination with albums and songs I've loved for months, if not years.  If 1001+ albums weren't enough, I also plan to indulge any tangent this list inspires me to take, relay my experiences at live concerts and shows, and discuss any additional albums I find in my lap.  That's where this blog differs.  These albums aren't simply isolated events to briefly consider and dismiss in favor of the next album, instead they will be starting points for new discoveries into the oeuvres of artists and genres previously unknown to me. Hopefully this undertaking will fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge of music history and encourage some conversation about some really great music.  So the only rule for this challenge - no rules.  Let's see where this takes us.