Thelonious Monk plays Duke Ellington / RLP 12-201 B

Thelonious Monk plays Duke Ellington
Riverside RLP 12-201 B
12inch LP
5. Mood Indigo
6. I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart
7. Solitude
8. Caravan
Thelonious Monk, piano;
Oscar Pettiford, bass;
Kenny Clarke, drums.
Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ,
July 21 and 27, 1955

[@wesleywashington1251]

I remember hearing once that if you were in Ellington's orchestra and he found out you liked doing a certain something on your instrument, he'd compose a song that featured you doing that!! Everything I hear about him tells me playing for him was an honor.

[@willieluncheonette5843]

from my article It's Monk's Time With the Unique Thelonious Monk
Although many of Monk's earliest recordings are of a very high caliber, holding up remarkably well and sounding as fresh today as the day they were recorded, by 1954 commercial success still eluded Monk. Part of this was due to Prestige which did a poor job promoting Monk. But I think it was mostly because of the aura that surrounded Monk. He was still called "the high priest of bop" with all the mystical nonsense surrounding that term even though Monk's direction was certainly not bop. Monk was not a talkative person and hardly gave interviews, let alone talk about his music. He also refused to bend his music to make it more palatable for the public. This ongoing shroud of mystery must have been strange to him since I would have thought his music would appeal to a much larger audience. After all, Monk improvised on the melody in songs, not the chord changes as did most other jazz musicians. Everyone can follow a good melody and hear what Monk was doing with it. But that was not the case and Monk was still scrambling to make a living.
Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington, Originally released in 1956 with a different cover and titled Thelonious Monk Plays The Music Of Duke Ellington. Released in 1958, this is the better known cover with a painting by Henri Rousseau.
Riverside Records knew they had a "difficult" artist on their hands when they signed Monk. In an effort to make him more relatable to the public, they chose to have him play all Ellington songs for his debut LP. And as we will see next, all standards for his sophomore effort. In retrospect I think this was a smart move by the label. Hitting the buying public with all Monk compositions right off the bat would have resulted in much the same lackluster sales.
The album got mostly good reviews and I would guess sold reasonably well, although figures are hard to come by today. The accompaniment by Oscar Pettiford on bass is outstanding and Kenny Clarke on drums is rock solid. Monk is in good form and the album is pleasant. But nothing really jumps out and smacks you over the head. Ellington's compositions are the most played in jazz and Monk's are the second most played. Tracks like "I let a Song Go Out of My Heart," "Mood Indigo," "Caravan," "I Got It Bad (And that Ain't Good)" and "Sophisticated Lady" are all dearly loved classics. So this should have been a complete success. But it lacks spark Monk has stated that Ellington was one of his biggest influences and here Monk is too reverential towards Duke. Too much Ellington, not enough Monk for me. Riverside's strategy to make Monk more accessible only neutralized what made Monk so unique. That said, the album does have its fans.

[@GoneTwilight]

very informative 👍