Finest In Jazz [Remastered] - 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: amazing interpretation of a classical piece
Disadvantages: Let me think about that.....hmmmmmm...........aaaaaaaaa...no

..., John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Jimi Hendrix if he was not dead and many many others that I would need pages to enumerate them(actually 10 lines would be sufficient but anyway). It is in the late 50's when Miles after he introduced the cool jazz idiom as a kind of an answer to the hard-bop idiom of the time, he decides to reorchestrate the whole "Concerto d' Aranjuez" for guitar, by Rodrigo, in a more Miles way. His main assistant? Famous jazz orchestrator and composer Gill Evans, not to be mistaken with the other great jazz pianist Bill Evans, who also as mentioned above collaborated with Miles from times to times. The result is a completely personal interpretation of a classical piece of music, that for sure stands at least as equal to the original concerto. Gill's orchestration throughout is ideal(I love those bell chimes... 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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