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If you're a big Duke Ellington fan like me, you have to check this out. He certainly was, and I totally connect with the whole back story of his struggle to succeed in my home town, New York City, while dealing with financial and mental issues on a day to day basis. That said, this music sounds so fresh and it resonates at the same time. Admittedly, I'm a latecomer to the Thelonius Monk songbook. After all, Monk was the coolest of the cats.Siouxie,Bronx, New York City It reminds me of my state of mind - off kilter. I just love his decidedly warped piano playing. Am also reading the very good bio Thelonius Monk, an American Original.
We loved the CD. Put Duke Ellington into it anyway, anywhere, anyhow, and you've got a winner.
Monk's "Plays Duke Ellington" album is a well known beginning of a fruitfull attachment to Riverside label; the producer thought it would be wise to present his quirky star in a less strange setting, playing the music of another great artist; both pianist and composer.Frankly, I agree with people who say this is not true and complete Thelonious experience but, although I love and respect true and complete Thelonious, this is still great jazz.For, Ellington was a great composer and these performances are nice, modernist and moderately monkish readings of some of his greatest tunes.Highly recomendable both to Ellington fans and to modern jazz fans, althoug not all of the Monk fans will be thrilled.
Listen for a bit and you'll find that there's nothing scary or "difficult' about his music. Jump right in. So you're hearing all the jazzers in the peripherals of your life raving on and on about these seemingly inaccessible figures (Miles, Trane, Monk). Quite simply, Monk is fun.Trust me, friend. The Jazz is fine.Kaz 6.29.04 So you want to dip a tentative toe into the vast Ocean of Jazz. So start right here."Plays Ellington'' is a great way to get acquainted with Monk.
Unfortunately, whether out of respect for the material, some degree of tentativeness with a new producer and record label, or from a conscious effort to smooth off some of Monk's more controversial characteristics, the playing on this first Riverside LP seems a little like Smooth Monk. The result is a nice average kind of album: has its moments ("Solitude"), but a little dull in spots ("It Don't Mean A Thing.").On the next Riverside LP, a collection of standards called "The Unique Thelonious Monk", the arrangements and playing are much more angular and Monk-like, and by the third LP, "Brilliant Corners" no holds are barred, no compromises made. There has probably never been a musician as uncompromising as Thelonious Monk. You can tell it's Monk, but kind of generi-sized, as if to convince Erroll Garner fans that Thelonious was their friend, and really wouldn't hurt them. The rest of the Monk Riverside catalog is Monk his way: "Monk's Music", "Thelonious Himself", "Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall", "5xMonkx5"- all examples of one of the most sharply etched, self-aware musical visions ever.As phase one of a marketing strategy, "Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington" was fine, but as a Monk album it's just okay. He did it his way to an extent that Frank Sinatra could never have dreamed of. However, after some personal problems and a stint with the less than supportive Prestige records, Monk's career was at a low ebb, so when Riverside producer Orrin Keepnews suggested that he do a couple albums of other people's tunes as a kind of icebreaker, Monk agreed.Ellington was one of the most obvious of Monk's influences- ("Sounds like he's stealing some of my stuff" Ellington is supposed to have said on first hearing a Monk record)- and a set of Ellington' greatest hits would seem like a natural way to let Monk be Monk while playing a set of jazz standards.
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