Search - Thelonious Monk :: London Collection 2

Monk's final group recording.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 01/31/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In 1971, Thelonious Monk toured Europe as part of the "Giants of Jazz" tour and in November of that year, entered a London studio for what would be his final recording session. The session has been released in three volumes-- the first is an album of solo piano performances, the second is a trio record, and hte third is a collection of alternate takes from the sessions. "The London Collection Volume 2" is the trio session, featuring bassist Al McKibbon and drummer Art Blakey.



One thing to state up front-- while these sessions are a coda to the career of Thelonious Monk, they are not to go overlooked. Monk had not been in the studio in three years and had not recorded small group in nearly four, but his performance is no less fantastic then it had been on those sessions, and certainly with support as sympathetic as McKibbon and Blakey (often considered the ideal drummer for Monk, although I would contend that Ben Riley wins that crown), the session produced much fruit, from the Jazz Messengeresque framed "Evidence" (comparable to the arrangement on "Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk 15 years earlier) to the delicate and lovely "Crepuscule with Nellie" or the downright ecstatic "I Mean You", which turns into a stunning bass feature for McKibbon even as Blakey and the leader threaten to steal the show beneath him.



If you can find it, get the remastered variants of this coming out of Europe-- I was able to order all three volumes via Amazon zShops-- the sonic upgrade is worthwhile.



Bottom line-- these are not sessions to be overlooked. I somewhat prefer volume 1 to this one, but it's a fine record, recommended."