Hints and tips:
...Monk, Ellington and the standard repertoire were in the frame and originals followed a theme-and-variations path....
...Pianist Aruán Ortiz was equally adept at stretching Thelonious Monk-like angularities as he was placing chords artfully or spiralling up the keyboard at warp-factor speed....
...Later in the set, two Ross originals combine with Monk’s “Evidence” and ebb and flow naturally without a break — the final bars pull Monk’s theme apart, sprint at pace and then stop dead....
...It ended with a snippet of Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence”, which launched more dynamic interplay and solos that raised the roof. “I’ve worked a lot on the band,” Ross told me after the gig....
...The gorgeous ballad interlude with echoes of Strayhorn and Monk stood out....
...Redman also adds new lyrics as well as bits of Thelonious Monk’s “San Francisco Holiday (Worry Later)” to “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”....
...The sparkling introduction to a flamboyant cover of Herbie Hancock’s “Dolphin Dance” sets the album’s tone and Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and Carla Bley are redrawn later in the set....
...The manic picking of a traditional air — sample verse: “We beg forgiveness for our sins and now we go away” — was followed by a “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” laden with tonal variations and Monk-like rhythmic...
...Barron has long absorbed Monk’s sharp angles into his multi-layered aesthetic....
...Some minutes in, the theme of Monk’s “Work” crystallised from a mist of ruminative clusters and jagged rhythmic lines before Monk’s “Friday the 13th” was pulled this way and that without losing form....
...Two contrasting versions of Monk’s “Ask Me Now” confirm the band’s creativity. But each of the 19 tracks has much to savour....
...The 16 tracks range from an early Monk classic to noughties Norah Jones, the stylistic contrast is wide and well-established artists are juxtaposed with the relatively unknown....
...“Honest Man” is pitch-perfect as a low-key waltz and the group composition “Chickmonk” marks the influence of Thelonious Monk and the late Chick Corea with a trio tour de force....
...Barron twinned his song with “Teo”, an up-tempo angularity by Monk....
...Frisell switched to electric guitar for two pieces by Monk — the winsome angularity of “Pannonica” and a rumbustious “Brilliant Corners”....
...His style drew on American influences, in particular the percussive angularity of Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk and the modernist fluency of Bud Powell....
...The American pianist and composer Fred Hersch’s opulent reworkings of the standard repertoire range from Johnny Mandel to Thelonious Monk, and his original work is of equal rigour and appeal....
...Elsewhere, Miles Davis’s “Solar” is unpicked before romping over fast walking bass and Loueke demonstrates his precision and feeling for the blues on “Blue Monk”....
...The set ended with Monk’s “Played Twice”, appropriately playing with tempo and time....
...The second disc opens with Timmons’ playful “Dat Dere” and includes a gorgeous reading of Monk’s “‘Round About Midnight” with trumpeter Morgan in dazzling form....
...As each track develops, tempi change, roles are swapped and ghosts of the past resonate in hi-hat figures, bass riffs and hints of Monk, gospel and stride....
...In between, the band reconstructed Monk’s “Evidence” and concentrated on newer work in a performance that rarely paused....
...The two-set performance takes in deconstructed standards, original work from a range of past Corea projects and covers of Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk....
...continue to intertwine on a zippy cover of Ornette Coleman’s “Blues Connotation”, and Phelps and Cole are equally well matched for invention and range on an intriguing, tempo-changing version of Thelonious Monk...
...American saxophonist Johnny Griffin delivers a swaggering original, “The Leopard Walks”, but his throwaway cover of Thelonious Monk’s “Blue Monk” is slightly too slow....
International Edition