Best Of Thelonious Monk, The (Round Midnight) - Thelonious Monk

Advantages: Intimate, excellent recording of the master of jazz piano alone doing what he does best.
Disadvantages: There's just not enough of it.

...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... Read review

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Advantages: Good for finding out about early chili peppers, fun and funky
Disadvantages: Early chili peppers does not stand up to modern stuff

...This album is a sister album to the 'What Hits' lp, and contains B-sides and demo versions of the chili peppers early work, up to before the release of Blood Sugar Sex Magik. It contians 19 tracks, Including 4 mixes, all of which are quite well done and in most cases sufficiently different to the original to merit thier inclusion, 3 live tracks, including Jimi Hendrix's Castles made of sand, and F.U. by Thelonious Monk. Next comes Demo versions of chili's songs, which for the fan are interesting as they do in places differ from the recorded versions, and feature the original members playing. There are then 5 other 'demo's' which are little more than studio outtakes, but fun all the same. If you are a chili peppers fan and want to hear thier early music, i suggest you start here before buying a complete album, as this gives you a wide... Read review

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Advantages: Sublime music and musicianship
Disadvantages: None

...This is the original score to the 60s film Alfie, composed and played by Sonny Rollins, one of the greatest tenor sax players. I watched this film several times before really appreciating the score, being so intent on the story and film locations, and later checked yes, it was Rollins playing, and he also wrote it. WHO IS SONNY ROLLINS? If you like jazz you don't need me to provide a biog. Sonny [Theodore Walter] Rollins was born in 1930 in New York, arguably one of the best jazz tenor saxophonists of all time. He was already playing with one of the greats, Thelonious Monk before he was 20, and later performed and recorded with John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Art Blakey. In 1955 he joined the Clifford Brown / Max Roach quintet. He was known for his improvisations, sometimes highly imaginative takes on relatively moribund... Read review

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