Search - Thelonious Monk :: Standards

Monk Plays Standards

Winfield | California | 08/23/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Monk plays mostly solo "standards" of the time, including Gershwin tunes and others. An avid Monk fan, I bought this as an addition to, not necessarily a highlight of, my collection, but am most pleased. He does justice to the music while interpreting with some subtle, some striking exploration. It's actually interesting to hear him play straight melodies and chords-- not to say that he doesn't do his usual chromatic and Lydian scale magic, throwing in some cool stride-style embellishment when appropriate to the music. If you dig Monk, it would be hard not to enjoy this well-recorded and engineered album of Monk breaking down and reworking the standards. By the way, the Columbia Jazz Masterpiece series, to which this album belongs, always delivers."