Search - T.S. Monk :: The Charm

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Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 10/07/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"T.s. Monk's third album, "The Charm" has always been a bit of an enigma to me-- I always rather enjoy listening to it, but it's just not memorable. Monk's band (Willie Williams on tenor and soprano sax and flute, Bobby Porcelli on alto sax and flute, Don Sickler on trumpet, Ronnie Matthews on piano and Scott Colley on bass) had been together for three years now (well, Colley joined a year after everyone else...), and their performances had taken on a resonance and depth that only time offers, but something about this one just doesn't stand out. And it could be that its the third album on the formula.



The formula, by this point, was to address a handful of bebop/hardbop pieces, arranged for sextet primarily by Don Sickler, with a couple originals thrown in. This album features a curious set of pieces-- Melba Liston's "Just Waiting", "Marty Sheller's "Marvelous Marvin", even Monk's father's "Bolivar Blues" aren't exactly commonly thought of as standards. Some of these get rather inspired readings-- "Bolivar Blues" picks up a deep New Orleans groove (something prevelent in the younger Monk's music) with a superb, bluesy tenor solo by Williams to cap it off, Clifford Jordan's "The Highest Mountain" presents in a gospel call-and-response pattern and features superb playing from just about everyone, and the leader gets a feature with his fantastic work on Walter Davis Jr.'s "Gypsy Folktales". But it may be the delicate ballad by Liston-- "Just Waiting", that steals the show, mournful and pretty, with a simply lovely tenor solo.



The originals on this are decent enough-- Matthews' "Jean Marie" gets an odd arrangement with two flutes and muted trumpet stating the theme and a fantastically Monkish solo, Porcelli's "Rejuvenate" has a fantastic off-rhythm theme but the solos are all thin until Matthews comes crashing in.



Still, while there's little to criticize here, it's just missing a certain something. Maybe it's just me, but I never got into this one as much as its followup, the stunning "Monk on Monk"."

Some great players and even greater composers.

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 09/08/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Monk's patrilineal pedigree should in no way cast suspicion on his talents. He's a commanding percussionist and leader, whose job is made all the easier by the presence of an "old" pro like pianist Ronnie Matthews, a redoubtable player like trumpeter Don Sickler, and the much-in-demand, bassist-of-the-day, Scott Colley. The date features only one Monk tune (by Sr.), but some other major compositional talent is represented, including tunes by Buddy Montgomery, Ronnie Mathews, Clifford Jordan and Melba Liston. But the highlight on the session, at least to my ears, is Walter Davis Jr.'s "Gypsy Folktales," one of the masterpieces from the pen of a pianist-composer who wrote music that is as distinctive and exciting as it is challenging and advanced. The crime is that, since the neglected Blakey ensembles of the 1970s, so few musicians even attempt them. Davis Jr. was not only a pianist who actually "knew" the inner workings of both Bud Powell and Monk better than anyone else, but beginning in the late '60s, he applied their innovations to his own compositions, perhaps as effectively as any composer since, producing music of daring and singular imagination."

Very good cd

webebuyers | Indiana | 10/27/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Since Amazon left the tracks off this listing... I thought I would give them to you...



1) Budini (Buddy Montgomery)

2) The Dealer Takes Four (Rodgers Grant)

3) Jean Marie (Ronnie Mathews)

4) Marvelous Marvin (Marty Sheller)

5) Bolivar Blues (Thelonious Monk)

6) The Highest Mountain (Clifford Jordan)

7) Rejuvenate (Bobby Porcelli)

8) Just Waiting (Melba Liston)

9) Gypsy Folktales (Walter Davis Jr.)"