Ken Dryden Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 (edited) Another hidden recording session by Thelonious Monk has been uncovered: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=21185 Just for laughs...of course. Edited April 4, 2006 by Ken Dryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 That sucks, I was fooled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 Y'all laugh, but on one of the bit-torrent sites there was briefly (very briefly) available a private tape of Monk running through "Yesterday" and commenting on how it was the same changes as "Confirmation". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 AFAIK Columbia really wanted him to do an album of Beatles tunes after the big band LP with Oliver Nelson ...... Monk doing "When I'm 64": We probably would all have ROTF ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 The Monk/Nelson project was enough for me. I refused to purchase the lp though I'm a Monk completest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Yep, low points for both men afaic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 (edited) Yeah, turns me off Nelson! Get this one though if you can find it! Edited April 3, 2006 by jazzbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted April 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 TS Monk swears that his father was never asked to a do an album of Beatles tunes. But I thought it would make a viable April Fools review at AllAboutJazz.com, since it has long been rumored to have been at least proposed. Whether or not people liked it, I have no idea, but as of today, it was the tenth most read CD review of the past 30 days and it was only posted the day before. I was in stiches last year after a number of people contacted me trying to track down copies of Michael Bolton Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook and Yanni: A Tribute to Art Tatum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 I was in stiches last year after a number of people contacted me trying to track down copies of Michael Bolton Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook and Yanni: A Tribute to Art Tatum. You seem easy to please. Hope the "stitches" have been removed by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slide_advantage_redoux Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Yeah, turns me off Nelson! Get this one though if you can find it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 "The CD concludes with a whimsical take of “When I’m Sixty-Four,” Aw - I was really looking forward to that one ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereojack Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 The Monk/Nelson project was enough for me. I refused to purchase the lp though I'm a Monk completest. I bought it at the time, was immediately unhappy with it. Dumped it pretty quickly, and to this day it is the only hole in my Monk collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 TS Monk swears that his father was never asked to a do an album of Beatles tunes. I wish I could remember where I picked up this rumor - I thought it was in the liner notes to the CD reissue of Monk's Blues, but it wasn't. Well, Columbia wouldn't have done themselves a favor by seeing that mentioned in a reissue on their own label .... That Monk's recording career ended with the misguided choice of Nelson as arranger is another tragic turn in his career. Among the unissued incomplete takes from this session is Teo Macero's Thelonious' Rock ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 .... oh, and that typo in the thread title is really cute ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Brian Priestley's notes to "The London Collection Volume Three" say: His association with CBS records, whose producer Teo Macero had worked with him sympathetically during much of the 1960s, had ended in mutual incomprehension. Doubtless under pressure from marketing and accountancy personnel, macero had teamed Monk with arranger/conductor Oliver Nelson, whose West Coast based studio band had destroyed the subtlety of Monk's music; and, in the absence of any new material from Thelonious himself, Macero had composed two facile Monk pastiches for the album. The next suggestion from CBS (whether via Macero is not clear) was that he record a selection of Beatles songs, a suggestion not taken up by Monk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 I haven't seen it it quite some time, but wasn't there some mention in Straight, No Chaser, the Monk documentary, about Columbia wanting Monk to record an album of Beatles songs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 And I seem to remember somebody recounting the story of a Columbia rep bringing lead sheets to Monk's house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 As a CBS employee at the time I find it hard to believe this happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted April 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 My money would be on the moronic Clive Davis coming up with that idea. Anyone ever heard the dreadful Joe Pass World Pacific album The Stones Jazz? I'm sure Pass felt insulted to be asked, but a paycheck was a paycheck at that time and he probably didn't have the luxury of saying no until after he started making some serious money with Norman Granz. As for the typo, oh well, I'm still recovering from a root canal and my eyesight isn't all that great reading the tiny fonts these bulletin boards utilize. I guess I could always increase them, then some folks would think that I was shouting like using all caps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 My money would be on the moronic Clive Davis coming up with that idea. As someone who worked for/with Clive Davis, he was a moron at times about musical matters but he was not a fool on this level. Unless you have better info Ken..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom in RI Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 I know Joe Pass found a source of steady dates with Pablo but did this really represent "serious money"? My general understanding is that working jazz mucians make the bulk of their income from live appearances, record dates, and airplay of same, serving more as advirtising than signifacant income. Can record dates with an independent label provide a livable wage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted April 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 I almost immediately edited out my description of Clive Davis as "moronic," but evidently my server problems never got my update through to the website. (I'm firing my internet service at the end of my contract, far too many untimely disconnects). There's little sense in editing my comment now, since it has been copied into another post. Chuck: I don't know what you would consider "better information" but at that point in Thelonious Monk's career, I would have thought it very insensitive to suggest that he record an album of 1960s pop songs, any more than any other long time Columbia jazz recording artist of that time. I know that every record company executive has the responsibility of getting the maximum exposure and profit out of each release, but jazz is a funny animal, since bestsellers are extremely rare. Why did they sign him in the first place? Tom: As far as Joe Pass, I'm sure his extensive exposure through numerous releases on Norman Granz's Pablo label (as a soloist, leader and sideman) helped fuel interest in his concert bookings and made him financially comfortable. It would be interesting to compare his typical income from a Pablo album vs. those for Pacific Jazz or World Pacific, but that's not in the cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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