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Genius Monk

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5 May 10th, 2005 

10 Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful

Advantages:
Intimate, excellent recording of the master of jazz piano alone doing what he does best .

Disadvantages:
There's just not enough of it .

Recommendable Yes:

Detailed rating:

Originality

Lyrics

Quality and consistency of tracks

Value for Money

JonnyOpinion

JonnyOpinion

About me:

I love music more than almost everything else in life. I quite fancy myself: but then, who doesn't?...

Member since:07.05.2005

Reviews:11

Members who trust:1

Thelonious Monk is unquestionably one of the greatest musicians of the last century. Joyous, wild, insane, romantic, ecstatic, otherwordly, desperate, monumental - and that's just his facial expressions. There are musicians who play their instruments, then there are musicians who just play, the instrument and the musician each being and becoming each other's instrument. Monk is one of these, and you won't find a better example of his greatness than on this record. Recorded in just a few days, every track here sounds like it burst out the sticky centre of a donut the size of the galaxy at the beginning of time, imploding with wonderous uncontrollably joy at the very fact of existence. The recordings themselves are so crisp and balanced that you can hear Monk humming and tapping along as he plays the piano with his whole body, somehow managing to envoke everything else you've ever heard on the piano. If you've never heard anything by Monk, this is the perfect place to start. If you have, this is a compulsory purchase. If you hate jazz, you'll still have to work very very hard to hate this. And in the end, why bother?

It might seem a bit pricey sometimes for a 45 minute record of solo performances, but a few extra pounds are definitely worth it and you can often get good deals on amazon etc.

Tracks:

1. Blue Monk
2. Ruby my dear
3. Round lights
4. Everything happens to me
5. You took the words right out of my heart
6. Bluehawk
7. Pannonica
8. Remember
9. There's danger in your eyes, Cherie (Take 2)
10. Reflections
11. There's danger in your eyes, Cherie (Take 1) 

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Comments about this review »

knight_of_the_soundtable 12.05.2005 02:30

Monk was a genius. Unfortunately, I don't know this album, only a few of the songs on it; but we nicked the cover art-work and modified it slightly for the ads to our illegal theatre production of T.Williams' "A Streetcar named Desire" once... *thosewerethetimes*

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