Thelonious Monk live recorded on film (1966)

[Durium]

THELONIOUS MONK

You haven't heard Monk until you've seen him playing.....

The 1966 Scandinavian concerts are well known, but some less known fragments exist from concerts in Paris and Warshaw from that same trip The Paris fragments are from a French broadcast, which makes the quality rather poor, but the shots are great. The Thelonious Monk Quartet featured Monk at the piano, Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums. The shots from the Paris concert were made from the very beginnings, behind the curtains, and include some preparations before the concerts starts, which gives it that special feeling as if you are part of the performance.

Thelonious Monk Live Recorded on film (1966)

Keep swinging

Durium

[brownie]

Very interesting footage from the Paris concert at the Mutualité. I attended the concert (it was held a few days after a concert by the Ornette Coleman trio - with David Izenson and Charles Moffett - at the same place).

Don't think this was shown on the French TV ORTF (the unique broadcaster back then) at the time. It must have been shown much later!

[AllenLowe]

interesting stuff, and almost a primer of why I can't stand Rouse's playing - it's so conventional, if couched in some un-conventional turns of harmony and phrase. Listen near the beginning of Rouse's solo as Monk comps in a very brittle and intrusive way - Miles Davis, for one, had the brains to realize that this was a challenge to either rise to or respond to negatively (as in telling Monk not to play) - Rouse, in a very arrogant way, just keeps on as though nothing is happening behind him, doesn't play against it or really respond in any way. And it sounds idiotic. What a dope.

(sorry to be so negative, but Rouse ruins a lot of Monk for me) -

Edited November 27, 2009 by AllenLowe

[Shrdlu]

Aww, Allen, don't be mean.

Charlie Rouse isn't the most interesting tenor player on earth, but he is a master of the horn, and plays very well. The most important thing probably, is that Monk must have liked having him there.

He's very good on "Five By Monk By Five" (Riverside, 1959). I really love the version of Straight No Chaser on that album. Monk's comping behind the horns is mesmerizing, and the piano is especially well recorded, with a lot of presence.

Charlie is also very good on Sonny Clark's best album, "Leapin' and Lopin'".

I used to play with a fantastic English pianist called Stan Jones when I lived in Joburg, and Stan toured the U.S. for 6 months on the same bill as Monk back in the 60s. He and his wife Ingrid knew Charlie very well. Ingrid used to sit on Charlie's knee.

[AllenLowe]

I realize I'm being harsh, but I have such an aversion to Rouse's playing that it drives me to mild spasms.

the guy is just the world's most annoying player. it's like he's saying "blah blah blah I'm standing up here next to Monk but I might as well be at open mic night at Happy's Pub and Beer Emporium."

Edited November 27, 2009 by AllenLowe

[brownie]

recently added to Youtube...

Thelonious Monk quartet with Charlie Rouse, Larry Gales and Ben Riley appearing on BBC Jazz 625 (MC Humphrey Lyttleton) from London's Marquee Club in March 1965:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

[take5]

Thanks for the video clips, brownie and Durium.

I like Charlie Rouse. I like that he doesn't respond to Monk but rather that Monk gives him plenty of space and mostly just adds color (Larry Gales- unsung hero of the Monk legacy?). No he's not an obvious ground-breaker, but figuring out how to play a horn in a Monk quartet consistently is an impressive feat. Now granted I'm one who feels that the quartet's work starts to get same-y after a while, so I'm not a completist, and I'm glad Monk recorded with lots of different people, but that quartet was a killer.

[Dan Gould]

I don't know anyone who hates Rouse like Allen does, and his nasty put-downs mean nothing if you don't hear Rouse the way he does.

And I surely do not.

[MomsMobley]

Allen is actually much more right than wrong. While Rouse can be an OK flavor (as on the charmingly fake ethnic Blue Note lp), he's DEAD AIR on nearly every Monk record. There are, perhaps, a few less boring Rouse solos but they all add up to nothing + 1. People want to love later Monk and I did also but there's no way around the fact much of it is coasting. Rouse is a swing era section player whom fate made a soloist but is there even one Rouse with Monk solo as great as those Monk + anyone else?

Granted he's six years younger and thus of a different jazz half-generation but compare Rouse blowing blowing and blowing fumes to, say, Booker Ervin. (Can anyone imagine Rouse with Mingus? Hah!)

[John L]

I find Rouse as a tenor player to be generally quite enjoyable. With Monk, I think that he often played the role of a foil, playing deliberately conventional and predictable lines that Monk could comp off of in uncoventional and unpredictable ways. It works for me.

Edited May 3, 2010 by John L

[flat5]

I'm not a big fan of Rouse or Booker Ervin.

Rouse usually tunes sharp and uses a growl.

Ervin blows LOUD and whiny.

On "Ask Me Now" on "5 By Monk By 5" Rouse does not really know the tune. Plays wrong notes on his solo.

Actually Thad had a little trouble with it too but overall did a good (pleasing) job.

Edited April 30, 2010 by flat5

[take5]

So who do we like playing with Monk on tenor?

Coltrane sounds a bit "forced" or academic to me. Griffin, to quote the emperor from Amadeus = "too many notes."

If I had to pick a favorite it would be Sonny Rollins.

[flat5]

Sure, Sonny Rollins. I just listened to Nutty (Misterioso 1958) and Griffin played just enough notes :-) He was great with Monk.

I will admit years ago I thought Johnny was playing like Stan Freeberg was standing behind him with a pointy stick :-)