Thelonious Monk
★★★★★
Genius Of Modern Music: Volume One
BLUE NOTE. LP
High Priest Of Bebop’s groundbreaking debut album returns to vinyl.
NOW FRESHLY mastered by the acclaimed audio engineer Kevin Gray as part of Blue Note’s ongoing Classic Vinyl Series, Monk’s debut long-player was a compilation of 78 rpm mono singles recorded in 1947 that was first released on a 10-inch LP in 1951 before being expanded to a 12-inch album five years later to accommodate a further four cuts. As the collection reveals, even at what was an early stage of his musical evolution, Monk’s musical language, with its angular melodic hooks, cascading keyboard lines, dissonant chords, and jaunty swing rhythms was already fully formed. Halfa-dozen of the set’s tunes would quickly become jazz standards, including the mysterious ballad ’Round Midnight, with its serpentine melody, the propulsive Well You Needn’t defined by a quirky but infectious melodic motif, and the achingly beautiful Ruby My Dear. Never has an album title been more apposite.