monk's dream IV - swing some more...

 

meine meterdicke monk-biographie setzt seit monaten staub an. das freut den staub. trotzdem: zeit sie wieder mal aufzuschlagen. die notizen oben stammen aus der feder des saxophonisten steve lacy, der in den 60ern mit theolonious monk spielte. die diktion verrät ihren monkianischen ursprung. einsilbig und unverkennbar wie dessen klavierlinien. ob in seinen solos oder in den begleitparts hinter seinen musikern: klapprig holpern noten und gespreizte akkorde hintereinander her und sind doch nicht zu fassen. dazu arrangements so honigsüß, dass man butterbrote damit bestreichen könnte.

'his favourite spot for thinking and talking about music was the basement at minton's, a small, diamond-shaped room with low ceilings, whicht teddy hill eventually turned into a separate after-hours club. monk used the space to practice with other young musicians and rehearse various bands he tried to put together. it was here that he, dizzy gillespie, kenny clarke, and others worked out chord substitutions, alternative voicings, and harmonic devices that could "modernize" swing music. in particular, monk preferred descending chromatic chord progressions and dissonant, "open-voiced" chords made up of just the root and the seventh or ninth degree of the scale. his chords often elicited chuckles from the audience, but monk didn't mind. he later remarked, "anything that's very good will make you laugh in admiration, so it must be humor to make you laugh - or maybe it makes you laugh in surprise because it knocks you out."

'monk's distinct sound was a product of unceasing discipline, practice, and hard work. achieving the harmonic and rhythmic language recognized as monk's did not come easy to him - playing "straight" was easier than playing "monk".'

'bebop's detractors, monk argued, "don't  understand the music and in most cases never heard it. "weird" means something you never heard before. it's weird until people get around to it. then it ceases to be weird."

'bassist ray brown complained that monk never really "comped" properly behind [dizzy gillespie's] band, choosing to do his own thing. sometimes he sat at the piano motionless and did nothing until he felt the time was right: "most piano players in most big bands sit down and they play with the band, you know. but monk would just sit there like this. and all of a sudden there'd be a pause from all the trumpets and everything, and monk would go 'plink!' like that. and everybody would go 'yeah!'"

robin d. g. kelley, thelonious monk. the life and times of an american original, ny 2009.

thelonious monk - in walked bud (1947)

thelonious monk - 'round midnight (1947)

thelonious monk - piano
george taitt - trumpet
sahib shihab - alto saxophone
bob paige - bass
art blakey - drums

monk's dream III - she preached and healed and we played...

'while i was still in my teens, i went on the road with a group that played church music for an evangelist. rock and roll or rhythm and blues. that's what we were doing. only now they put different words to it. she preached and healed and we played'

thelonious and his siblings had absorbed the music of the church as children. besides attending church every sunday, the kids listended to their mother singing and humming hymns and gospel tunes in hushed tones around the house. thelonious would later record some of the sacred songs he heard as a child.
monk grew particularly fond of reverend charles a. tindley's hymn 'we'll understand it better, by and by' , which he composed around 1906. like so many 'old school' gospel musicians, monk alwayes referred to tindley's composition by the first line of the chorus, 'by and by when the morning comes.' the tune's medium tempo and swinging accents made it a perfect vehicle for monk. in fact, clark terry and monk's version of 'one foot in the gutter,' recorded in 1958, is based on the changes from 'we'll understand it better, by and by.'
robin d. g. kelley, thelonious monk. the life and times of an american original, ny 2009.


clark terry quintet - one foot in the grave (1958)

clark terry - flügelhorn
thelonious monk - piano
sam jones - bass
philly joe jones - drums.

monk's dream II - riot on the hill...

san juan hill was so named in part because several black veterans of the spanish-american war settled in the area. (san juan hill, near santiago, cuba, was the site where the legendary black cavalry known as the buffalo soldiers, alongside teddy roosevelt and his rough riders, waged their most ferocious battle.) but the name stuck to the neighborhood for another reason: its reputation for violence. legend has it that the name was first used by an on-looker who saw the policemen charging up during one of the once common race fights. between 1900 and 1917, the place was famous for its race riots. in 1905, a reporter noted that the police in the vicinity 'expect at least one small riot on the hill or in the gut [the west end side of san juan hill] each week.'
in 1917, a day after the fourth of july, san juan hill erupted once again when a group of black national guardsmen, all members of the fifteenth infantry of new york, ignored police orders to disperse. they had committed no crime, but apparently the sight of twenty-five black men in uniform gathered on the corner of west 61st street was enough to arouse suspicion. fighting began when one of the white police officers arrested lawrence joaquin, a black puerto rican guardsman who, coincidentally had been arrested in the racial disturbances a month earlier. his comrades fought back in order to free joaquin. as soon as whites on amsterdam ave. heard or saw what was happening, they came pouring out of their homes, initiating another massive melee.
a few months later, the fifteenth infantry was dispatched to the war front, where they were reorganized as the 369th infantry regiment under french command. earning the nickname 'harlem hellfighters' for their combat record, the regiment's astouning band, led by lieutenant james reese europe, introduced ragtime and early jazz to europeans.

the combination of anti-black violence, police inaction during the 1905 riots, and deteriorating housing conditions spurred a mass exodus out of san juan hill into the next up-and-coming black neighborhood: harlem.
san juan hill's reputation as a violent community was as strong as ever by the time the monks settled there. about a year and a half after they arrived, san huan hill earned the dubious distinction of being one of the 'busiest crime areas in the new york city'.
robin d. g. kelley, thelonious monk. the life and times of an american original, ny 2009.

thelonious monk quartet - epistrophy (in concert 1963)

thelonious monk - piano
charlie rouse - tenor saxophone
butch warren - bass
frankie dunlop - drums.


eric dolphy - epistrophy (in concert 1964)

eric dolphy - bass clarinet
misha mengelberg - piano
hans bennink - drums
jacques schols - bass.


als eine der frühesten kompositionen monks spielt er epistrophy bereits 1941 in minton's playhouse, harlem.
dolphy und monk haben nie zusammen aufgenommen. in seiner art melodien in ihre einzelteile zu zerlegen und in erratische linien zu verwandeln ist der 11 jahre jüngere dolphy monk jedoch nachgefolgt. wo letzterer allerdings seinen humor arbeiten lässt, scheint dolphy mit dynamit zu hantieren.

una delle sue prime composizioni monk suona epistrophy giá nel 1941 nel minton's playhouse (harlem).
non ha mai registrato insieme a eric dolphy, che é piú giovane di lui di undici anni. peró con il suo modo di scomporre delle strutture musicale per poi riarrangiare le parti rimanenti in melodie ed armonie apparentemente sbilanciate ha trovato in dolphy un suo alunno. dove peró monk usa il suo umorismo, dolphy sembra impiegare dinamite.

image: monk (r) zusammen mit eric dolphy (l). vermutlich 60er jahre.

monk's dream I - thick, humid, dirty, congested...

habe gerade robin d.g. kelleys biographie von thelonious monk zu lesen begonnen. da ich, was dort steht, nicht recht für mich behalten mag, werde ich hin und wieder hier was posten.

sto leggendo la biografia di thelonious monk scritta da robin d.g. kelley al momento. faccio fatica a tenerlo tutto solo per me. perció spargeró qualche briciolo qui ogni tanto.

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'four-year old thelonious spent much of the time with his nose pressed against the window, watching the familiar flat countryside fade into modern steel bridges and bustling cityscapes dotted with skyscrapers. when the train pulled into new york's penn station around 7:00 on that fateful june evening, it was still light out and the summer's heat hadn't quite subsided.

north carolina summers were nothing like the thick, humid, dirty, congested heat of new york city.'

'in 1910, san juan hill was still the largest black community in manhattan. a few years later, it would be surpassed by harlem, although when the monks arrived in 1922 it was still mostly black - at least off the avenues. [...] on west 63rd street the aroma of southern-style collard greens cooked with ham hocks mixed with the distinct smell of jamaican rice and peas and fried ripe plantain. english was the main language in the community, but it came in a carolina twang and a west indian singsong lilt, in addition to a distinctive new york accent. spanish and french were also spoken on those streets, with german and yiddish along the white-dominated avenues.

it is easy to romanticize this diversity - easy and false. ms. mavis swire born and raised in the neighborhood and just three years younger than thelonious, vividly remembered the tensions. "the southern blacks called west indians 'monkey chasers,' and we often referred to southern blacks as 'possum eaters'. our main fights were with the irish and italians on the avenue. you have to go to the stores on the avenue. they would not let you go by on the sidewalk. you had to walk in the street around them."' 
kelley, thelonious monk. the life and times of an american original, ny 2009.

thelonious monk quartet - in walked bud (1958)

thelonious monk - piano

johnny griffin - tenor sax

roy haynes - drums

ahmed abdul-malik - bass.