Even his name was one of a kind. Before Monk came along, no one played piano like him. His elliptical approach to melody and often abrupt, percussive style created suspense and humor on the bandstand, ...

Thelonious Monk was such a genius musician that anything he recorded is worth having. That said, some of his recordings are more significant than others. His Blue Note discs are most important, ...

It’s a cliché of modernism that one generation’s avant-garde assimilates into the next generation’s mainstream. But seven decades after Thelonious Monk helped lay the foundation for modern jazz, he ...

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a reissue of The Complete Riverside Recordings of pianist Thelonious Monk. He says it's really the story of two men: Monk and late record producer Orrin Keepnews.

Limited to 4,000 individually numbered copies worldwide, the latest Thelonious Monk vinyl reissue features all-analog, one-step mastering. Handpicked from Craft’s extensive catalog, each Small Batch ...

Thelonious Monk’s best-known composition, “’Round Midnight,” was first recorded 80 years ago this month. His slow, moody ballad ranks as among his finest work and one of the most enduring in jazz.

There’s a story, possibly apocryphal, about Thelonious Monk and his 1956 composition “Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are.” Supposedly, Monk performed the number at a club and afterward, a rather dignified ...

Thelonious Sphere Monk is one of the true great jazz originals. As Minton's house pianist, Monk was entrenched as THE bebop pianist: At Minton's, with Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Kenny Clarke, and ...

It’s a cliché of modernism that one generation’s avant-garde assimilates into the next generation’s mainstream. But seven decades after Thelonious Monk helped lay the foundation for modern jazz, he ...

When producer Orrin Keepnews undertook this album for Riverside in 1957, Thelonious Monk had recorded relatively little as a solo pianist—nine tracks for French Vogue in 1954 and single tracks on ...