Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Thelonious Monk: Epistrophy, 1980


My introduction to the jazz aesthetic was Misterioso, one of Monk's live albums recorded during sessions at New York's Five Spot in the 50's. Very few albums have had as great an effect on my music appreciation as that one, and it continues to touch me in a way that few albums can. Misterioso will always be my favorite, but I love how Monk's other recordings document the way that he continued to modify his compositions and sound over the course of his career. In addition to his contribution to the jazz sound itself, Monk also became a masterful exponent of the jazz practice of producing infinite variations on musical themes.

This recording captures a Paris appearance by Monk's quartet in 1970. Monk gives every note a lot of weight by playing with a rare sparseness, especially on Sweet and Lovely, which takes up the entire A side. Every member of the band leaves plenty of room for the others, giving the performance a more delicate quality than other Monk recordings. I know nothing about Affinity, the Spanish label that released this album first, but the recording was made by BYG people and the sound quality is very clear. Personally, I would go so far as to rank this album among Monk's classic recordings, but that distinction is usually reserved for major label releases.

Crepescule with Nellie by Easy Jams

6 comments:

  1. a great place you got here! a lot of new (old) stuff to discover... very cool...
    ;)

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  2. hm... and i really like the way you connect music with politics. the music-blogosphere is mostly apolitical and hedonistic. i mean i do love music immensely, but at the end of the day, it's all about sweeten up your days while the foundation of your and other people's life never enters into perspective... so, i really enjoy your project here!

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  3. Thanks! I don't know German or Italian, but I enjoyed checking out your blog too.

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  4. The file you have posted as Sweet and Lovely seems to be an un-split-up version of the other three files. Do you know what I mean?

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  5. Should be fixed, thanks for the heads up

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  6. http://www.mediafire.com/?vyt0i96tkh55rwm

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