Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk is a genius. And he's an interresting pianist, with some real interresting licks, and an amazing tempo. Good luck for playing this, it's really not that easy…

From the fabulous solo Paris 1954 recording
'Round Midnight (Video)
For me, this is the ultimate version of this great standard. The voicings are precise, the melodic lines are clear and swinging as hell, the ideas seem to flow naturally and fluidly. When I want to play this tune, this is the version that I have in mind.
Well you needn't (Video)
I had some some trouble writing down the names of the chords. When Monk plays the theme, in the A sections the melody implies F - Gb, but the bass plays something else (a chromatic line over F). In the solos he clearly thinks F almost exclusively. Very different from the Real Book version!
Evidence (Video)
Eronel (Video)
Off Minor (Video)
On this one, I love how simple most of his chords are (exept for the Bb7/D7 endings), and how swingy they sound. Notice measure 63, when he makes a lick in 12/8 over 4/4.
We See (Video)
What he plays is kinda simple, but his swing is so insane!
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Video)
I realise that I've never listenned to the original recording of the song, because to me THIS IS the original! I've just listenned to Gertrude Niesen's recording, it's a very cute song… but I prefer Monk's version :)
Some of the fast licks are pretty hard to play!

From Thelonious Monk & Sonny Rollins (1954)
Work (Video)
I love this song, with the call and response with the left hand.

From The Unique Thlonious Monk (1956)
Tea for Two (Video)
(You can also check Fats Waller's version here)

From Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants (1959)
The Man I Love (Video)
We know that this session did not go well, and that Miles and Monk had various arguments. This precise passage has been the subject of numerous glosses. Monk plays a weird solo, fooling around the melody, with a lot of silence. And then, he stops playing, and all is left is silence, for an eternity. Miles enters as if he were saying "what the hell are you doing?", and the pianist starts swinging again as if nothing had happened. A fun moment, also fun to transcribe :)

From Thelonious Alone in San Francisco (1959)
Everything Happens to Me (Video)

Ruby my Dear (Video)
One of Thelonious Monk's most famous ballads. I had a hard time choosing how to write certain rhythms: should I follow the leadsheets (at least based on versions with bass and drums, which helps to have the rhythms right!) ; or should I trust my ears and what Thelonious Monk actually sounds like he's playing? Well, I guess I did a bit of both. When Monk plays the theme (bars 3-32), I followed the leadsheet; during his solo, he plays mostly in time and he's easier to follow (although he adds a 8th bar 35, hence the 9/8); and in the rubato sections at the beginning (bars 1-2), at the end of the theme (bars 33-34) and at the end of the song (bars 65-77), I trusted my ears and chose to write what seemed most logical to read to play like him. Transcribing is making choices, I hope mine will make sense to you!

Bluehawk (Video)
Monk's typical B-flat blues! The theme is really simple (a four notes motif), but Monk play a lot with the contrast between long-held notes and staccatto notes ; I tried my best to write all these subtleties down. During the solo he occasionnally plays stride, and who will complain?
Even though Monk stays true to the basic structure of the blues, he adds some nice harmonic colours here and there, with the BbM7 and the FM7-Bb7 – I also like the Dbdim in the turnarounds. He ends with a very unique chord, a Bb7 wit the flat 9th and the natural 9th!

I Surrender, Dear (Video)
For me, Monk's interpretations of ballads are profoundly moving. Is it their weirdness and quirkiness? The apparent simplicity of the melodies he chooses? I can't really explain it yet, but I love it. This tune here is a great illustration.
As always, he chooses precisely the voicing he plays. I love the alternation, bars 2 of each A, between A7 and Bb7, it add a nice variation to the song.

From Monk in Italy (1961)
Body and Soul (Video)
Thelonious monk wrote this crazy reharmonization of Body and Soul, with a lot of chromatic harmonies, a lot of whole-tone scales and some of the crunchiest chords.
He recorded his arrangement a few times, the best known of which is probably the one on Monk's Dream (1963), but there are also several live versions, including this one. The tempo here is very free, I tried my best to get close to it!

From Solo Monk (1964)
Sweet and Lovely (Video)

From Underground (1968)
Thelonius