Thelonious Monk - Early Albums 1951-54 [CD]

Thelonious Monk was one of the most innovative and influential of the pioneering bebop pianists and composers with a uniquely distinctive and idiosyncratic style characterised by an angular, percussive and occasionally dissonant approach. He came to the fore in the 1940s, so when the era of the vinyl long-playing album dawned in the 1950s, he was ideally placed to take advantage of it. This 38-track 2-CD collection comprises the titles from his first 10" LPs on Blue Note and Prestige. The first two on Blue Note, ", "Genius Of Modern Music Vols. 1 & 2", combine titles from sessions in the late '40s which were released as singles with some from 1951 sessions, while the Prestige titles from the albums "Thelonious", "Thelonious Monk Quintet Blows for LP", "Thelonious Monk Quintet" and "Thelonious Monk Plays", were conceived as album projects, featuring extended performances, for which dedicate sessions were done from 1952 through to 1954. We also include bonus titles from a solo session in Paris in 1954. It features performances in the various Trio, Quartet, Quintet and Sextet line-ups with noted musicians of the day, including Gene Ramey, Milt Jackson, Sonny Rollins, Gary Mapp, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Percy Heath, Al McKibbon, Ray Copeland, Frank Foster, Curley Russell and more. It's a set which captures one of the true greats of the genre at a key period of his career.

Tracklist:

1. 'Round About Midnight
2. Off Minor
3. Ruby My Dear
4. I Mean You
5. Thelonious
6. Epistrophy
7. Well You Needn't
8. Misterioso
9. Four in One
10. Who Knows
11. Nice Work If You Can Get It
12. In Walked Bud
13. Humph
14. Straight No Chaser
15. Suburban Eyes
16. Ask Me Now
17. Little Rootie Tootie
18. Sweet and Lovely
19. Bye-Ya
20. Monk's Dream
21. Trinkle Tinkle
22. These Foolish Things
23. Bemsha Swing
24. Reflections
25. Friday the 13th
26. Let's Call This
27. Think of One
28. We See
29. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
30. Locomotive
31. Hackensack
32. Work
33. Nutty
34. Blue Monk
35. Just a Gigolo
36. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
37. Eronel
38. Off Minor

UPC: 824046355920
Label: ACROBAT
Release Date: 8.8.25
Format: CD