Monk leftovers

[papsrus]

Full Disclosure: I'm a big Monk fan.

[Dan Gould]

Lucky you're focusing on official releases. The number of radio broadcasts and soundboards of Monk concerts that show up in the trading community and on sites like Dime is astounding.

And some are probably even better than some of the best released concerts.

There's an official one from Newport Jazz Festival 1959 available for $10 I think from Wolfgang's Vault. It's available in FLAC or MP3 format. I don't know if I'd call it essential but I think it's very good. Full Disclosure: I'm a big Monk fan.

Then you ought to know there are two Monk shows available for download from Wolfgang's Vault.

[Gheorghe]

got a Monk double CD recently I didn´t know about. With Paul Jeffrey from Newport 1975 and the other half is from the Village Vanguard from 1972. I like them very much. At first I was a bit disappointed by the way Jeffrey plays, was too used to Rouse who always seemed hand in glove with Monk, but after a few listenings I started to find his more aggresive treatment of the music quite exiting and it seemed to thrill Monk also, who plays quite fresh things. Oh ....and imagine: Dave Holland is on bass on the Vanguard sets. And Monk junior on drums really does some great stuff. I wonder why there are not more recordings with Monk father and son.

[MartyJazz]

got a Monk double CD recently I didn´t know about. With Paul Jeffrey from Newport 1975 and the other half is from the Village Vanguard from 1972. I like them very much. At first I was a bit disappointed by the way Jeffrey plays, was too used to Rouse who always seemed hand in glove with Monk, but after a few listenings I started to find his more aggresive treatment of the music quite exiting and it seemed to thrill Monk also, who plays quite fresh things. Oh ....and imagine: Dave Holland is on bass on the Vanguard sets. And Monk junior on drums really does some great stuff. I wonder why there are not more recordings with Monk father and son.

How's the fidelity on the Vanguard '72 recordings? I don't know of any official recordings from that time. I caught Monk at the Vanguard on 2 occasions in the spring of '72 - I think Ron McClure was on bass - and I'm aware of friends (at that time) who were recording illicitly with portable cassette recorders. (Honest, it wasn't me although I do have open reel copies made from those cassettes).

[jazzbo]

I've had this material with Jeffrey from a tape collector for some time. The recorded sound is okay. Not great, but not bad.

Like the playing a lot.

[AmirBagachelles]

My copy of Monk In Copenhagen (from Danish Radio, Storyville, 1996) says it was released by agreement with the Monk family estate. It does seem a bit odd that a live session that sounds as good as this one has not been reissued again.

[medjuck]

got a Monk double CD recently I didn´t know about. With Paul Jeffrey from Newport 1975 and the other half is from the Village Vanguard from 1972. I like them very much. At first I was a bit disappointed by the way Jeffrey plays, was too used to Rouse who always seemed hand in glove with Monk, but after a few listenings I started to find his more aggresive treatment of the music quite exiting and it seemed to thrill Monk also, who plays quite fresh things. Oh ....and imagine: Dave Holland is on bass on the Vanguard sets. And Monk junior on drums really does some great stuff. I wonder why there are not more recordings with Monk father and son.

Is this release easily found? I'd like to get it.

[AndrewHill]

got a Monk double CD recently I didn´t know about. With Paul Jeffrey from Newport 1975 and the other half is from the Village Vanguard from 1972. I like them very much. At first I was a bit disappointed by the way Jeffrey plays, was too used to Rouse who always seemed hand in glove with Monk, but after a few listenings I started to find his more aggresive treatment of the music quite exiting and it seemed to thrill Monk also, who plays quite fresh things. Oh ....and imagine: Dave Holland is on bass on the Vanguard sets. And Monk junior on drums really does some great stuff. I wonder why there are not more recordings with Monk father and son.

Is this release easily found? I'd like to get it.

Yeah, me too. Could you give label info? Thx.

[jazzbo]

Look here:

http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/the_last_concerts_2_cd_set-cd-5189.html

[Tony Pusey]

Dont wish to muddy the waters about the dragon release, but the Monk was deleted and not reissued long before the Monk estate released the Stockholm material, whereas the Getz and Miles material continued to be available, so perhaps what is true in the one case is not necessarily so in the other?

[Gheorghe]

got a Monk double CD recently I didn´t know about. With Paul Jeffrey from Newport 1975 and the other half is from the Village Vanguard from 1972. I like them very much. At first I was a bit disappointed by the way Jeffrey plays, was too used to Rouse who always seemed hand in glove with Monk, but after a few listenings I started to find his more aggresive treatment of the music quite exiting and it seemed to thrill Monk also, who plays quite fresh things. Oh ....and imagine: Dave Holland is on bass on the Vanguard sets. And Monk junior on drums really does some great stuff. I wonder why there are not more recordings with Monk father and son.

Is this release easily found? I'd like to get it.

Yeah, me too. Could you give label info? Thx.

The label, something quite obscure: "Rare Live Recordings" RLR.

I purchased it from amazon. Right now I listened again to it. It´s quite interesting how Paul Jeffrey plays in a more laid back manner. On some of the tunes (Hackensack) he seems to repeat his ideas, but he plays well and seems to thrill the aging Monk. The whole group sounds inspired. Dave Holland is just marvelous, fantastic what he´s doing here. And young Tootie really thrills me. The whole stuff is quite more complex than the way we are used to listen to the typical Monk Quartet. I´d never say else than Charlie Rouse was the best thing that ever happened to Monk, since he knew Monk´s music from top to bottom. But as I said, the whole thing is more dense, less abstract. Monk doesn´t lay out, he´s comping all the time and plays a lot of really fine stuff.

The sound quality is not bad. But you know I´m a stone bebopper so I´m used to poor sound, Parker live recordings etc. But even if the sound isn´t hi fidelity, it really captures the live atmosphere of a club. The way the stuff sounded when I used to go to clubs and listen to music.

[king ubu]

RLR isn´t obscure... it´s just one of the many Spanish/Andorran shady labels. Their specialty is to release live shows that are "in circulation" (and sometimes reissuing pretty obvious Bird sets, too).

[Gheorghe]

RLR isn´t obscure... it´s just one of the many Spanish/Andorran shady labels. Their specialty is to release live shows that are "in circulation" (and sometimes reissuing pretty obvious Bird sets, too).

Yeah, recently I purchased "Bird in Paris", also a double CD like the late Monk performances 1975, 1972.

Back to Monk: I also like the "Giants of Jazz". Even if that´s not so strictly Monk he fits astonishingly well into the surroundings, and it´s a rare occasion to hear him play stuff like "Woody´n You" at a crisp tempo, or "Tour de Force". I also got a DVD of them from Copenhagen. Monk has a kind of vacant look,but plays very well and is quite busy comping.

[AmirBagachelles]

How is the sound quality on "Monk In Bern"? Radio sourced? Thanks, Dan

[king ubu]

Magnetic is definitely a boot label - don't know the Bern concert, but often better-sounding version have come into circulation in the past twenty or so years that went by since these boots appeared.

[jazzbo]

Sound for that one isn't great. But then again, I have not heard a better sounding version since.