Your top 5 Thelonious Monk albums (in no order)

[C]

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Studio or live

Come on, jazz cats or not, most of us have five - don't we....?



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[Nervous Ned]

Brilliant Corners
Genius of Modern Music Vols 1 & 2
Monk Alone (Or any of the solo recordings)
Live at the It Club
Straight, No Chaser ... (or any of the Columbia albums ... vastly underrated)

Monk makes me smile.

[C]

Monk makes me smile.

Exactly, and nice choices

Very nice


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[mudshark]

I probably have a top-50. Out of those:

Straight. No Chaser
Monk's Dream
Miles & Monk at Newport
Big Band & Quartet in Concert
Monk

Special mention: Milt Jackson and the TM Quintet. A compilation of sorts neither a Milt nor a Monk album.
Sheer brilliance. Going to put it on the turntable right now.

[C]

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Difficult

Thelonious Himself
Monk's Music
Monk's Dream
Straight, No Chaser
Misterioso


A live corker!



Wiki:

Misterioso is a 1958 live album by the Thelonious Monk Quartet. By the time of its recording, the pianist and bandleader Thelonious Monk had overcome an extended period of career difficulties and achieved stardom with his residency at New York's Five Spot Café, beginning in 1957. He returned there the following year for a second stint with his quartet, featuring drummer Roy Haynes, bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik, and tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin. Along with Thelonious in Action (1958), Misterioso captures portions of the ensemble's August 7 show at the venue.

One of the first successful live recordings of Monk's music, Misterioso was produced by Orrin Keepnews of Riverside Records. According to Keepnews, the pianist played more distinctly here than on his studio albums in response to the audience's enthusiasm during the performance. Misterioso's title was meant to evoke Monk's reputation as an enigmatic, challenging performer, while its cover art was part of Riverside's attempt to capitalize on his popularity with intellectual and bohemian audiences; it appropriated Giorgio de Chirico's 1915 painting The Seer






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[Nervous Ned]

Ok trivia fans ... what links Thelonious Monk, Stanley Kubrick and New Order?

[C]

Ok trivia fans ... what links Thelonious Monk, Stanley Kubrick and New Order?

Something to do with Kubrick’s film’s soundtracks….?



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[mudshark]

Stanley once joined a New religious Order, thus became a Monk.
Easy.

[C]

Stanley once joined a New religious Order, thus became a Monk.
Easy.

Soft lad



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[Nervous Ned]

The cover of Misterioso (see above) features a painting by Giorgio de Chirico (The Seer) ... as does New Order's Thieves Like Us (different painting). New Order's next single, obscure Belgium only release,Murder, also use a Giorgio de Chirico painting AND features a sample from Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Mudshark's answer is more interesting!

[C]

The cover of Misterioso (see above) features a painting by Giorgio de Chirico (The Seer) ... as does New Order's Thieves Like Us (different painting). New Order's next single, obscure Belgium only release,Murder, also use a Giorgio de Chirico painting AND features a sample from Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Mudshark's answer is more interesting!

Thanks - that’s interesting (more than Muddy’s buffoonery)




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[pcqgod]

Brilliant Corners
Monk's Music
Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane
Straight no Chaser
Monk's Dream

[Nervous Ned]

Monk really was a one off ... not only in a musical sense, although there are plenty of musicians in jazz and other genres where that label can be used, but also compositionaly. For a composer who had an active recording career from late 1940's to early 1970 he recorded remarkably few original compositions. 60+ is a number that springs to mind. Rerecording his core repertoire regularly ... and it's suprising how many of his 'classics' appear on those initial Blue Note sessions.

This leads to the problem with his album titles. Two albums titled Misterioso (both live recordings), two called Monk. Several of us have listed Straight, No Chaser as a favourite. I was referring to the 1967 Colombia release. Is there another though?

[C]

Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane

I really rate this album. Recorded over three sessions in 1957

I didn’t include it as is credited as a joint album.

Silly really. A superb album

As you were




.

[C]

Monk really was a one off ... not only in a musical sense, although there are plenty of musicians in jazz and other genres where that label can be used, but also compositionaly. For a composer who had an active recording career from late 1940's to early 1970 he recorded remarkably few original compositions. 60+ is a number that springs to mind. Rerecording his core repertoire regularly ... and it's suprising how many of his 'classics' appear on those initial Blue Note sessions.

This leads to the problem with his album titles. Two albums titled Misterioso (both live recordings), two called Monk. Several of us have listed Straight, No Chaser as a favourite. I was referring to the 1967 Colombia release. Is there another though?

Nice post Ned

Very nice

Straight, No Chaser was first recorded in 1957 but appears on a number of albums.

If I understand you correctly why do you suggest there may be more than one album of that title?

Incidentally, talking of live albums, Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall is blistering and unequivocally recommended



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[Nervous Ned]

... probably because I would have thought Monk and/or his record companies couldn't resist drawing attention to the inclusion of one of his most well known standards ... but, surprise suprise ... looks like it took until the end of his career before anyone did! ... I just wish he'd called an album 'Trinkle Tinkle'!

[Six String]

Genius Of Modern Music Vol. 1&2 (Blue Note)
Monk’s Music
Brilliant Corners
Thelonious In Action
Thelonious Monk Qt. With John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (Blue Note)

In Action has a superb performance by Johnny Griffin.
Trane and Monk together was top shelf.
I feel like I should have a Prestige album in there or a Columbia title but oh well. Too many to choose and I didn’t give it a lot of extra thought tbh.