Thelonius Monk – The Early Years – 1951-54 – 2CD

 It's a set which captures one of the true greats of the genre at a key period of his career.

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.

Track Listing:

CD1:
Thelonius Monk Quintet: 1. 'Round About Midnight -   Thelonius Monk Trio: 2. Off Minor -   3. Ruby My Dear -   Thelonius Monk Quartet: 4. I Mean You -   Thelonius Monk Sextet: 5. Thelonious -   Thelonius Monk Quartet: 6. Epistrophy -   Thelonius Monk Trio: 7. Well You Needn't -   Thelonius Monk Quartet: 8. Misterioso -   Thelonius Monk Quintet: 9. Four In One -   10. Who Knows -   Thelonius Monk Trio: 11. Nice Work If You Can Get It -   Thelonius Monk Quintet: 12. In Walked Bud -   Thelonius Monk Sextet: 13. Humph -   Thelonius Monk Quintet: 14. Straight No Chaser -   Thelonius Monk Sextet: 15. Suburban Eyes -   Thelonius Monk Quintet: 16. Ask Me Now -   Thelonius Monk Trio: 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 -  

CD2:
Thelonius Monk Quintet: 1. Friday The 13th -   2. Let's Call This -   3. Think Of One -   4. We See -   5. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes -   6. Locomotive -   7. Hackensack -   Thelonius Monk Trio: 8. Work -   9. Nutty -   10. Blue Monk -   11. Just A Gigolo -   Thelonius Monk: 12. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes -   13. Eronel -   14. Off Minor