Product DescriptionRecorded on Riverside in October 1959, Thelonious Alone in San Francisco was a sequel of sorts to Thelonious Himself, recorded two years earlier. In addition to the album's 10 original tracks, the reissue includes an alternate take of "There's Danger in Your Eyes, Cherie."
"With Thelonious Alone in San Francisco, Monk proved that his earlier success as a solo artist was not a fluke," says Tesser in his liner notes for the reissue. "And in rejecting all the `rules' for playing without accompaniment -- as he'd rejected so many rules before -- Monk expanded the entire concept of the solo piano idiom. Without Monk's recordings as bedrock, it's hard to imagine similarly intimate (though otherwise quite different) solo albums that would eventually come from Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea or even McCoy Tyner."
For as unique as Monk's style was, "he stayed pretty consistently within that style throughout the remainder of his career," says Phillips. "That's not to imply that there was any lack of creativity on his part. Within the unique style that he established, there was so much to explore and develop. But he still sounds unmistakably like Thelonious Monk, no matter what chapter of his career you listen to."