Thelonious Monk Overview

A minimalist jazz pianist who took bebop to even higher heights, Thelonious Sphere Monk was a unique character and a maverick in the music industry. How else can we describe a man who kept his grand piano in his kitchen? Not... [more]

A minimalist jazz pianist who took bebop to even higher heights, Thelonious Sphere Monk was a unique character and a maverick in the music industry. How else can we describe a man who kept his grand piano in his kitchen? Not interested in using his music to please people, Monk strove to discover ways of expressing life in all its heights and depths. His sound carried a certain desperation as he pushed notes in unfamiliar ways. At many times it seemed that no one understood his work at all. Monk played with many of the jazz greats, including John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Milt Jackson, and Miles Davis. Each of these musicians had his own distinct approach to music-making; when combined, their talents were explosive. With Miles Davis, Monk explored the idea of "space" in music. Monk refused to fill up the space of a song with sound -- instead, he chose to "simplify" the feeling of the song. In his conception, space was something that gave music resonance, rest, and texture, all of which would be overpowered if too much "sound" happened. Arriving long before rap and rock 'n' roll, Monk foreshadowed these movements' encounters with hardship, as his own struggles with drugs and mental illness produced a unique musical acknowledgment of hard times. He was and continues to be revered in the world of jazz, and many young musicians are still learning from his legacy. [show less]