Monk joins the 100 Club!

[Serial_Apologist]

Sat 7 Oct
4 pm Jazz Record requests
Ahead of Tuesday's centenary of the birth of Thelonious Monk, Alyn Shipton showcases music by Monk's quartet, as requested by listeners. Another tribute follows

http://www.alynshipton.co.uk/blog

5 pm Jazz Line-Up
Julian Joseph continues the afternoon's focus on the music of Thelonious Monk with tributes including a performance by the Tony Kofi Quartet, recorded in November 2016 at the London Jazz Festival, featuring some of Monk's best-loved compositions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0977f8y

Around about Midnight
Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
Geoffrey Smith continues the celebration of Thelonious Monk's birth with recordings of the renowned pianist performing as a soloist, with a big band, and in the company of star saxophonists John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins.

For me, at any rate, the Rollins association was musically the more compatible of these two; Sonny's way of playing with space and creating tension around the beat was more in line with Monk's, and it has been argued that he took this approach from the pianist; but Monk did 'Trane a real favour in taking him on when Miles sacked him temporarily until he overcame his habit - not to mention the fact that Trane developed his "sheets of sound" approach while with Monk, "Trinkle Tinkle" being an example of this that must have shocked its first-time listeners and left them wondering, was it really possible to cram that number of ideas into a solo? - before taking it back into the modal context Miles was beginning to shape improvisation out of in 1958.

NB - This is a repeat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07f6l5f

Radio 2 Sun 8 Oct
9 pm Clare Teal
Big band and swing, including guests, tonight with Stan Sultzman, musician and former sideman with the Clarke-Boland Big Band.

Not to mention Kenny Wheeler, Mike Gibbs, and a whole host of top names, including his own, which, by the way, contains no "t", and ends with two "n's". Google Sprog it next time, Radio 2 up-winders!

Stan doesn't get a lot of coverage on t'wireless these days, so I thought I'd mention this particular episode of Ms Teal's regular slot.

Mon 9 Oct
11 pm Jazz Now
Soweto Kinch celebrates the [cum on, we want to know - tell us, tell us!] Thelonious Monk centenary [phew! you'd never have guessed] with a concert from the quartet formed in 2015 by Martin Speake (alto sax), Hans Koller (euphonium/piano), Calum Gourlay (bass) and James Maddren (drums) and called simply Thelonious. They are joined in Birmingham's CBSO Centre by American guitarist Steve Cardenas, who has recorded all of Monk's works. Also featured is bandleader John Beasley, who takes a different approach to Monk's music.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0978084

Weds 11 Oct
11 pm Late Junction
Verity Sharp previews Tusk Festival in Gateshead, explores the musical collaborations of Robert Wyatt and plays music by James Tenney and by Hannah Martin and Philip Henry's duo, Edgelarks.

Relevant bit highlit.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Wibur Ware's bass solo on Tinkle Tinkle... Whaaaaasssssszat!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Btw, interesting to look at the timeline of the first Trane/Miles parting. Miles fired him in April 1957 and on the usual account, Coltrane went back to Philadelphia to clean up. BUT, he was actually back recording the Prestige sessions for his first (very together) leader album "Coltrane" with Cecil Payne and Johnny Splann in May 1957. A remarkably quick turnaround. Jackie McLean said that Coltrane was in fact cleaning up (from Heroin) WHEN Miles fired him and that Trane was trying to work while withdrawing hard by dosing himself with Scotch etc. McLean said his playing was "demented" that final week, people muttering. "Get someone else", but at the same time remarkable, often way way off the chords. And once clean...Monk. And as Coltrane said, playing with Monk was like not knowing when a lift shaft would open underneath you!

BN.

[eighthobstruction]

....brilliant programme....i.e. jazz line up....monk....

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Yes, heard Tony Kofi Monking when it was first broadcast. Still stands up.

[Serial_Apologist]

....brilliant programme....i.e. jazz line up....monk....

Yes indeedy - Monsieur Kofi and his band really have got the Monk thing nailed. Gee - whizz!!! We haven't heard much of the American Rod Youngs here before, and I'd especially like to give him a wider recommendation as one of the most musical and least showy-for-its-own-sake drummer on the scene here currently. That said, I was a bit puzzled by what they make of Crepuscule - almost treating its opening measures in a way of trying to make conventional sense of them. I think the only way this tune can be approached differently from the way Monk did it is how the New York Comtemporary Five did on that amazing 1963 LP, by omitting the piano altogether.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

That April in Paris by Monk with Rouse (1964) was really wonderful. Coincidentally, from the Boston Globe a few days ago...

"Monk offered another “April in Paris” on his 1964 album “Monk,” in a quartet setting featuring saxophonist Charlie Rouse. Again, it begins with a piano solo, synthesizing Monk’s history with the song, recognizable runs and re-harmonizations collected and catalogued (remaining consistent across different takes, and in subsequent live performances). When the other players enter, the music turns relaxed and smooth, at least by Monk’s standards. It’s as if, having finally fixed his own conception, Monk is content to let the group offer other opinions.

After that, “April in Paris” seems to have dropped out of Monk’s repertoire — further hint that his interpretation had reached some goal. That, too, set Monk apart. One often feels that, for Monk, improvisation was a process of purification: a quest for a song’s ideal form. Monk cut his own facets into “April in Paris” until it gleamed like a mirror." MATTHEW GUERRIERI.

[Old Grumpy]

Radio 2 Sun 8 Oct
9 pm Clare Teal
Big band and swing, including guests, tonight with Stan Sultzman, musician and former sideman with the Clarke-Boland Big Band.

Not to mention Kenny Wheeler, Mike Gibbs, and a whole host of top names, including his own, which, by the way, contains no "t", and ends with two "n's". Google Sprog it next time, Radio 2 up-winders!

I share your pain, S_A. They also got it wrong in the Scarborough publicity. It does appear, however that Ms Teele reads these boards, as it is now corrected on the Radio 2 website.

OG

[antongould]

To take nothing away from the Monk Centenary .... I was very impressed by the Bill Evans and Tony Bennett piece played in Alyn's hour which, shamefully, I had never heard before .......

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

To take nothing away from the Monk Centenary .... I was very impressed by the Bill Evans and Tony Bennett piece played in Alyn's hour which, shamefully, I had never heard before .......

"TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017 (ALL DAY)

Tune in on October 10 to WKCR 89.9 FM-NY (Columbia University Radio) for 24 hours of Thelonious Sphere Monk’s music in celebration of his 100th birthday."

These affairs are usually pretty good if you can get past Phil Schaap's rather relentless detail and are full of the lesser known tracks.

So,

Time to break out a BOX of TDK 90s.

BN.

[Old Grumpy]

Just "catching up with Clare Teal, not at Sulzmann yet, but just heard a listener request "My Oh My" (Slade) B side (swing version) and Phil Collins' "Sussudio" (big band version). Do they swing? (jazz purists will hate me for this) Youbetcha!

OG

Edit: Stan the mann (sic), what a star!