Interpretations of Monk, vols 1 & 2

[martini]

I pulled this one out today. The lineups give me the chills; they are so great. To quote Roswell, "Today I am going to worship."

Edited January 3, 2010 by martini

[brownie]

Love Todd's version of "Four in One."

You're referring to the 'That's the Way I Feel' album from Hal Willner.

This thread is about that other Monk tribute, a 4CD set:

[Teasing the Korean]

This thread seems to be about both tribute albums. The original poster asked about both.

[brownie]

I obviously skipped the second post

[MartyJazz]

  The problem with these performances is, as great as it is to hear all these fine players do Monk, that it is more of a jam session approach than a carefully planned and arranged event. That lessens the potential somewhat. If you would like to hear these guys solo on Monk tunes, go for it. But they are not as dense as some better planned Monk tributes or Monk's own versions.  

I beg to differ. As one who was there for the evening concert (see above my post from Feb '07), I don't see how one can call it a "jam session approach" when you have septet performances of the more complex Monk compositions, e.g., "Four in One", "Bye-ya", "Off Minor", etc. Jam session approaches to Monk ususally mean, at least to my ears and what I've personally witnessed, pedestrian versions of his simpler blues pieces, e.g., "Straight, No Chaser", "Blue Monk", with the obligatory rendition of his most popular ballad standard, "'Round Midnight". That November '81 double concert (afternoon and evening) remains one of the highlight live jazz event memories for me.

[JETman]

This thread seems to be about both tribute albums. The original poster asked about both.

That Todd doesn't even belong in the same discussion as the one about the musicians who played at the concerts at Columbia!!!