Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Himself

Thelonious Monk: piano

April In Paris; (I Don’t Stand) A Ghost of a Chance (With You) (take 7); Functional; I’m Getting Sentimental Over You; I Should Care (take 3); ’Round Midnight; All Alone; Monk’s Mood (false start); Monk’s Mood; (I Don’t Stand) A Ghost of a Chance (With You) (take 5); Functional (take 1); I Should Care (take 1); I Should Care (take 2)

Orrin Keepnews' commentary (from his new liner notes): "This, you might say, is an album of undiluted Monk. Like most generalizations, that wouldbe putting things a bit too simply, but the core of truth is there. For, with the deliberate exceptionof the final selection, this is literally Thelonious Himself—Monk, alone in the recordingstudio, offering highly personal versions of some standards and some of his own tunes.
As might be expected, the overall tone of this album is reflective. The tempos are relaxed and there is a good deal of that sometimes deceptivefeeling of searching, while playing, for an idea to explore, of almost unexpectedly finding in a single note or phrase the impetus for afull chorus that follows. This is a feeling that often gives Monk’s playing a quality of thinking-out-loud. It isn’t that he sounds unprepared, orsurprised by the directions in which he takes himself; it is rather, as if he were constantly discovering and rediscovering within himself bothnew and remembered patterns of music."

Price: $13.98