monk's dream

Thelonious Monk found his greatest success with his first session recorded for Colombia Records.  Tired of wrangling with Riverside Records over royalties after they bought his contract from Prestige Records, Monk had recorded a number of live albums to finish out his contract.  The high priest of bebop had been banned from playing in New York clubs after being beaten and arrested along with his benefactor  Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter; but after some legal negotiations he had his cabaret card back and had taken up residency at  the Five Spot Cafe.  His new quartet had played together on his final two Riverside albums, 'Monk in France' and 'Thelonious Monk in Italy'; and would appear on 'Criss Cross' which was also released in 1963.  

'Monk's Dream' was recorded at the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York with producer Teo Macero and features Thelonious Monk on piano; Charlie Rouse on tenor sax; John Ore on bass; and Frankie Dunlop on drums.  The album would be the best seller of Monk's entire career.  Monk mused:   "I was calling it bipbop, but the others must have heard me wrong...I don't have any musician friends.  I was friends to a lot of musicians, but looks like they weren't friends to me...All you're supposed to do is lay down the sounds and let people pick up on them.  If you ain't doing that, you just ain't a musician. Nothing more to it than that...All ways know, always night, all ways know - and dig the way I say 'all ways'...A man's a genius just for looking like himself...Play yourself!" 





http://www.theloniousmonk.com/

http://www.monkbook.com/

http://www.monkzone.com/

http://monkinstitute.org/

https://www.facebook.com/theloniousmonk/

"Bolivar Blues" 




"Just a Gigolo" 









'Monk's Dream' 
full album:



All compositions by Thelonious Monk except as indicated.

Side one
"Monk's Dream" – 6:26
"Body and Soul" (Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton and Johnny Green) – 4:29
"Bright Mississippi" – 8:34
"Five Spot Blues" – 3:15
Side two
"Bolivar Blues" – 6:25
"Just a Gigolo" (Julius Brammer, Irving Caesar, Leonello Casucci) – 2:29
"Bye-Ya" – 6:01

"Sweet and Lovely" (Gus Arnheim, Harry Tobias, Jules LeMare) – 7:48



http://vimeo.com/68356922

‪Monk's Dream - Thelonious Monk [FULL ALBUM] [HQ]‬‏ - YouTube [360p] from Hamid Hajam on Vimeo.