New Monk bio in progress by Robin Kelley

[Peter Johnson]

This is proving to be a tremendous, well-written read. I particularly enjoy the insights provided by the reels of recorded "monk-talk."

I have to say, though, one thing stopped me in my tracks. When I dropped the book on my dining room table for the first time, it sprung open to the photo section, and the first one I saw:

Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Roy Haynes, and Charlie Parker at a club in Greenwich Village!!!

Apologies if this has been covered here before, but holy mother of Christ, does any recorded documentation of this ensemble EXIST???!!!

I did a full-on Aric when I saw that picture...and there are others, of similarly potentially sublime ensembles.

Please, someone, chime in with a "yes"!

[AllenLowe]

that's a shot from Robert Reisner's club, the Open Door in Greenwhich Village - though there are some famous Frusclla recordings from there, sad to say there are none of this particular group -

[7/4]

My local B&N doesn't have it yet.

Bah!

[Peter Johnson]

that's a shot from Robert Reisner's club, the Open Door in Greenwhich Village - though there are some famous Frusclla recordings from there, sad to say there are none of this particular group -

[paul secor]

that's a shot from Robert Reisner's club, the Open Door in Greenwhich Village - though there are some famous Frusclla recordings from there, sad to say there are none of this particular group -

There are recordings of Bird at the Open Door - none w. Monk, unfortunately.

[JSngry]

That Open Door pic was in the first jazz book I ever read, Marshall Stearns' The Story Of Jazz. I hadn't even heard Bird yet, but the mojo came through anyway. Maybe it was the white suit.

Edited October 12, 2009 by JSngry

[Lazaro Vega]

Picked mine up from The Bookman in Grand Haven today, but this will have to wait until I get through the Fats Navarro biography, which is going well.

[mikeweil]

Received my copy this morning - first impression is that it's a well-written, thoroughly researched book!

One question - there's a price of $ 30.00 printed on the back - is that lower than usual for a new hardcover book like this?

[doneth]

$30 is fair. New hardback fiction is a little less, university press books are often a lot more. I picked up my copy of the Monk book today at Barnes & Noble where I work - the employee discount is nice. It's going to take me a while because I've got a lot going on at the moment but it looks like a really good read.

[gmonahan]

$30 is fair. New hardback fiction is a little less, university press books are often a lot more. I picked up my copy of the Monk book today at Barnes & Noble where I work - the employee discount is nice. It's going to take me a while because I've got a lot going on at the moment but it looks like a really good read.

Thanks, and welcome to the Board!

greg mo

[jlhoots]

I think it's a fair price too - especially since I paid $19.80 online (no tax or shipping).

My copy has been sent.

[AllenLowe]

just got back from NYC, saw Kelley do a reading with Randy Weston.

I still like the book, glad I got it before I went to the reading -

[7/4]

NY Times review -> Monk’s Moods

.

[7/4]

I think it's a fair price too - especially since I paid $19.80 online (no tax or shipping).

My copy has been sent.

That's about what I paid, I ordered my copy last night.

[jazzbo]

I'm over 200 pages in, Monk has just been admitted to Bellevue.

There's not a lot of musical analysis in this book. Which is okay with me. Once I got through the first few chapters of family history, it picked up speed and reads well. I'm enjoying playing the music mentioned as I go along. Monk will always be one of my very favorites.

[AllenLowe]

intelligent review from the Times, except this line:

"Presently, her son was off on a two-year musical tour of the United States, playing a kind of sanctified R & B piano in the employ, with the rest of his small band, of a traveling woman evangelist. "

silly depiction, for a clueless contemporary audience, of church music of the time (mid 1930s) which was, maybe, a precursor of r&B but much different in character.

[jazzbo]

Yes, but the review is probably paraphrsing a quote from Monk told to Nat Hentoff, that on that tour he played rock and R&B. . . see page 41:

"While still in my teens, I went on the road with a group that played church music for an evangelist. Rock and roll or rhythm and blues. That's what we were doing. Only now they put differen words to it. She preached and healed and we played. we had trumpet, saxophone, piano and drums."

So Monk (or Nat) was making the simplification himself for publication.

[AllenLowe]

gotcha - just shows that even jazz musicians don't know any better.

[jazzbo]

I think they know better. . . they also just know how much of a hassle it is to try to explain it in depth especially since 99% of those listening can't bring themselves to care. . . .

Edited October 16, 2009 by jazzbo

[six string]

I ordered a copy the other day too. I'm still reading the Gigi Gryce book so it'll be a while before I can start it.

[JSngry]

I think they know better. . . they also just know how much of a hassle it is to try to explain it in depth especially since 99% of those listening can't bring themselves to care. . . .

That and the fact that what "it" "is" can and does change depending on where one is when one is looking at it.

[AllenLowe]

the truth is that few writers are capable of describing music well; Giddins can, but he makes mistakes, Francis Davis is very good, Max Harrison is able, our own Larry K. is one of the best. Various methods of impressionist description can be very annoying (think Whitney Balliet, though I'm probably in a minority here). One needs to be direct and to avoid metaphors whenever possible, to be good at concrete adjectives and certain kinds of similies (the best at this, literary-wise, is the writer Isaac Babel).

simply put, what is the music doing? and how is it doing it? Even musicians aren't good at this (though one of the best writers EVER about jazz and jazz performance is/was the pianist Dick Katz).

just my own perspective.

Edited October 16, 2009 by AllenLowe

[JSngry]

Yeah, but to Monk in 1956 (the date of the quote), the difference between what he had probably heard of contemporaneous R&B and what he remembered playing with the evangelist was probably close enough to being the same thing just with different words as to really not make no never never mind.

[paul secor]

NY Times review -> Monk’s Moods

Haven't gotten the Monk book yet. I'm interested in Kleinzahler's Music: I - LXXIV. I like his poetry and his book of music essays looks interesting, off the one review I've found.

[Norm]

Just watched the Straight, No Chaser documentary for the first time tonight, on 7/4's recommendation.

Wow! That was amazing. All of the footage was fantastic...I particularly like the performances in London, I think, with the Octet ( Johnny Griffin on sax). I wanted doc to keep going and going, but yes in the end it left me with more questions than answers. So, I'm very happy to see this thread on the new biography and to see that virtually everyone is pleased with it thus far. This moves to next position on the to-read list.