CD Odyssey Disc 5: Thelonious Monk

OK - it has come to my attention that I called disc 4 disc 5 in my last entry. Let it be known that this is in fact now Disc 5 - all other disc 5s in the CD Odyssey are imposters.

Disc 5 is...This Is Jazz 5: Thelonious Monk



Artist: Thelonious Monk

Year of Release: 1996, but the music is from 1963-1968

How I Came To Know It: I can't remember. I'm pretty sure I never had any friends or ex-girlfriends that were into Thelonious Monk, and I'm not all that into jazz. Back in about 1991 I had a brief stint trying to "get" jazz. I'd go down to Herman's Jazz Bar and try to soak it in, and figure it out. I gave up after about 9 months or so. Besides, I couldn't get anyone to go and jazz girls were really hard to pick up. Maybe I was just doing it wrong...

How It Stacks Up: Not Applicable. This is not a Thelonious Monk album per se - it is a best of/greatest hits. It isn't a real album at all in that way, so it can't be rated. I do have one actual Thelonious Monk album "Underground" which I will stack up when I get there.

Rating: Not applicable. Best ofs aren't really rateable, but if they were, I'd give Thelonious 5 stars. Yeah, you heard me right, punchy.

As I mentioned earlier, jazz never came easy to me. It is a complicated music, and sometimes I think they're just doing that to piss the rest of us off. After my initial foray in 1991, I gave up on jazz for years.

The timing is hazy, but maybe about ten years ago I gave it another shot, and I had heard good things about Thelonious Monk. Turns out, those things were right. Whether it was just the right time in my life, or whether it was the magic of Thelonious' piano (and the kick-ass Charlie Rouse on Sax) it worked this time.

I'll never be a huge jazz fan, but I have an appreciation for certain artists - mostly old stuff like Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck. Stuff that is simple enough that I get it.

Monk (and Rouse, who should get half the billing on this one) can really play, even by the high standards of jazz musicians. Half the time, I can't believe the notes they are laying down, and the other half I am enthralled by the perfect use of pause between notes.

This album is all good - it makes you want to get up and dance in a crazy fashion, or just sit at a red light and flail your arms around like an idiot. Yes, I do these things.

I do listen to this one a fair bit - more than any other jazz record I have, but I still have a tough time knowing which track is which. They are all good. My friend Penelope says that to understand jazz you first "have to know what song they're fucking with". Maybe that's so, but I'm too much of a neophyte to know if it's true. I choose to think it is, because it's a saucy theory, and includes swears.

Sadly, there are folks out there that think the only good music is jazz. Attention you closed-minded folks - you are about as right as the people who think only hip hop has good music. Except you probably have less friends.

Sorry - couldn't resist a poke at musical snobbery. There are a lot of ways to express the beauty of the world through music, and to limit yourself to just one seems the height of foolishness. Free your mind, and the rest will follow, as En Vogue once said. We know En Vogue was right, because they looked soooo good on that runway...

Back to Monk - he's great. If you don't love jazz, or don't know jazz I'd say start with either this or Dave Brubeck - you can't go wrong with them. May you have better luck than me understanding the stuff that comes after.

Best tracks: Blue Monk, Rhythym-A-Ning, Monk's Dream