'Monk's Music,' Thelonious Monk - 1957

Thelonious Monk was already an icon of the U.S. bebop movement from his piano bench when the late 1950s saw the genre taken to new heights, leading up to the “Year of Jazz” in 1959 with a series of classic albums from greats like Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman.

Davis and Coltrane had also been building their status as legends of the genre through the hard bop and post pop subgenres, but it was feud between the two greats that led to some of the most revered tracks in 1957’s “Monk’s Music.”

Having faced his own demons and addictions earlier in the decade, Davis was unsympathetic to Coltrane’s struggles with heroin and alcoholism when during a 1956 performance by Davis’s quintet – a group that included Coltrane and would go on to produce the iconic “Kind of Blue” album in 1959 – the saxophonist nodded out on stage.

An enraged Davis reportedly slapped Coltrane across the face and fired him soon after. Monk, having witnessed the altercation allegedly offered Coltrane a spot in his septet, which went on to record all but one of the hardbop songs laid to wax on “Monk’s Music.”

Coltrane would go on to forge his own path as one of the greatest players of the hard and post-bop subgenres with a series of records culminating in the release of “A Love Supreme” in 1965, but “Monk’s Music” stands as one of first testaments of the sax genius’s ability to stand outside of his mentor Davis’ shadow.

The first track opens with a short hymn written by classical organist William Henry Monk – no relation – that features only the group’s horn section of Coltrane on tenor sax, Gigi Gryce at alto sax and Ray Copeland on trumpet. The song evokes a tragic, yet hopeful melody, starting the record off slow but with richness found in few jazz songs that lack a low end of drum and bass.

The second tune “Well You Needn’t” shows Coltrane flexing his muscles with his first solo of the album, an early rendition of what became his “sheets of sound” style of frantic saxophone phrasing where notes flow into one another, creating a level of articulation unreplicated by any musician since.

This song, as all the following pieces of music, was composed by Monk and it include his trademarks staccato accents and angular piano parts leading the group through dynamic melodies and fast-moving rhythms led by the legendary Art Blakey who led the jazz messengers for decades, releasing another favorite of the “Year of Jazz” with 1959’s “Moanin.’”

Monk’s “Ruby My Dear” follows on track 3 with Coleman Hawkins, who rose to prominence in the 1940s leading the of the first band's Monk was part of, on saxophone. The first version is followed by a bonus track included in the 2021 reissue of the same song but with Coltrane on tenor instead. This side-by-side comparison truly demonstrates Coltrane’s uniqueness, filling the ballad’s space and gaps in the melody with his signature density of notes and aggressive sound.

The group led by Monk and Coltrane’s frenetic, yet controlled melodies and solos continued to jam throughout the second half, punctuated by the power of Blakey’s drums. Midway through the second of three tracks on Side B, “Epistrophy” sees all the members of septet taking off for alternating solos.

Bassist Wilbur War leads for several minutes of the almost 11-minute song with walking bassline showing amazing sophistication and control before Blakey takes over for one of his typically thundering drum solos.

The listener will barely have energy left so it’s a relief that the last song “Crepuscule with Nellie” is slow albeit filled with the dramatic accents Monk was known for.

Thelonious Monk was not just an incredible piano player and original composer but had a rare talent of assembling some of the best jazz musicians in history. “Monk’s Music” is evidence of this as only a couple years later, many of the septet would change the genre forever.

Personnel: Thelonious Monk - piano

Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane - tenor sax

Gigi Gryce - alto sax

Ray Copeland - trumpet

Wilbur Ware - bass

Art Blakey - drums