Legendary drummer Paul Motian has publicly stated that Thelonious Monk is his greatest influence - which you would only assume from hearing his stuttering snare-drum accents and his compositions of unorthodox beauty. As you might expect, Reflections (recorded in 1958) is the first disc ever to feature only Monk covers. This lithe reading of the exceptionally knotty "Four in One" comes from Lacy's second album as a leader, predating even School Days. (They prided themselves on having more songs on their shelf than Monk's own bands did.) Afterwards, Lacy continued to reprise Monk's music regularly in performance and on wax - which, after 40-odd years, adds up to a lot of Monk. Lacy was certainly the first to embrace Monk's catalog as a massive oeuvre to be mined and reconfigured with trombonist Roswell Rudd, he led the world's first Monk repertory band (School Days) in the '60s. (Oh, and he also played an instrument most commonly associated with elevator music.) But not only did the late Steve Lacy practice excellent tact and breath support on the soprano sax, but he was also arguably the best Monk expositor who ever lived. You wouldn't think that the most prolific interpreter of Thelonious Monk's music would be a Russian Jew from Manhattan's Upper West Side who spent most of his career in France. from Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk.
Jazz fans hear Monk's tunes so often misapprehended - so flattened of their innate, disjointed glee - that sometimes it's easy to wonder: Why bother? Rather than hearing fresh re-imaginings of Monk's idiosyncrasies, we're usually stuck with run-of-the-mill facsimiles of an inimitable stylist. It's just that so many Monk covers, supposedly inspired in some way by the eccentric genius himself, wind up sounding lame. John and John Zorn on the same disc.Įveryone knows (or ought to know) that the pianist was a special talent, what with all the spastic bounding, the extreme-yet-economical syncopation, the Monk Dance, and so on.
One tribute project brought out Peter Frampton, Dr.
Experimental composer Anthony Braxton, Andy Summers of The Police, the progressive chamber ensemble Kronos Quartet and a synthesizer duo called Thelonious Moog: They've all recorded entire albums' worth of Monk's music. But these days, every jazz-inclined musician worth his or her salt learns Monk, and probably extensively. An unsubstantiated claim, sure - no one has actually sifted through hard data on this one. If you had to put money on it, it'd be a safe bet that Thelonious Monk is the most played composer in jazz today.
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