Hardbopjazz Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 Anyone know the last known Monk recording, whether in a studio or live? I have a recording from the 1975 New Port Jazz festival. Are there any recordings that are later than this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcello Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 (edited) "The 1975 Lincoln Center concert presented here was Thelonious Monk's last recorded performance ever, either live or in the studio. " Edited January 20, 2011 by marcello Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Johnson Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 "The 1975 Lincoln Center concert presented here was Thelonious Monk's last recorded performance ever, either live or in the studio. " Marcello, I'm trying in vain to turn this up under Amazon or elsewhere--any ideas on how I find it? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffcrom Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 "The 1975 Lincoln Center concert presented here was Thelonious Monk's last recorded performance ever, either live or in the studio. " Marcello, I'm trying in vain to turn this up under Amazon or elsewhere--any ideas on how I find it? Thanks. Since I bought it in Europe, I checked on Amazon UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 dude i thoght the last monk thing was the 72 giants of jazz gigs. 1975 lincoln center? whoa, so its it w/ charlie rouse n his quintet n stuff. thats practically monk in the 80s..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffcrom Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 dude i thoght the last monk thing was the 72 giants of jazz gigs. 1975 lincoln center? whoa, so its it w/ charlie rouse n his quintet n stuff. thats practically monk in the 80s..... Paul Jeffrey is the saxophonist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertrand Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 Your buddy Larry Ridley is on bass. Bertrand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 I remember back in 75 hoping and praying that Thelonious would get well enough to come to the West Coast one more time. It never happened, and I never got to see him live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 What is the sound quality of this release? The 2 or so Rare Live Recordings I've acquired are of poor quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 The quality is "okay." Not great, but a bit better than the copies of the material I've had through a fellow collector for about five or six years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartyJazz Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 I know that I attended his last concert which occurred in March 1976, but for the life of me I cannot recall if it was at Town Hall or Carnegie Hall. I do recall that the concert was billed as a tribute to Monk and that Barry Harris in all probablility would be the pianist, with an outside chance that Monk would show up and play. Well, Monk did show and while the audience was quite appreciative that he did indeed appear, his soloing was quite sparse and pretty much uneventful. BTW, Paul Jeffrey was on tenor and I believe that Lonnie Hillyer was on trumpet as well. Unless, someone in the audience made a surreptitious copy, I'm afraid this last concert is irretrievably lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 well, that might be a good thing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertrand Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 1976 was probably his last gig officially, but apparently he sat in with Blakey at the Vanguard a year or two later. Bertrand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardbopjazz Posted January 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 1976 was probably his last gig officially, but apparently he sat in with Blakey at the Vanguard a year or two later. Bertrand. This in itself is worth the risk of a first use of a time machine to see. So somewhere around 1978 he was able to pop out of his bedroom and stomach going out and play one more time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gheorghe Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 I own that 2 CD set of Monk´s Last Recordings and mentioned it on another topic about Monk, I think it was about Monk´s horn players, where I described my impressions about Paul Jeffrey. If anyone has questions about that music, ask me since I´ve been listening to it over and over again. In general, the Lincoln Center set is worse recorded than the 1972 Vanguard set, and I guess the group is more in action on the Vanguard stuff. Of course Monk is also beautiful on the Giants of Jazz stuff and it´s a rare occasion to hear him play on Dizzy´s tunes like "Tour de Force" and "Woody´n You". Revealing is also a DVD about the Giants from 1971. Monk really plays his stuff, but if you look at him you think something has hurt that man very much, it´s like he got that vacant look, though he really "blows" on Tour de Force, is beautiful on Round Midnite and does great comping for all the other musicians involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romualdo Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 (edited) I know that I attended his last concert which occurred in March 1976, but for the life of me I cannot recall if it was at Town Hall or Carnegie Hall. I do recall that the concert was billed as a tribute to Monk and that Barry Harris in all probablility would be the pianist, with an outside chance that Monk would show up and play. Well, Monk did show and while the audience was quite appreciative that he did indeed appear, his soloing was quite sparse and pretty much uneventful. BTW, Paul Jeffrey was on tenor and I believe that Lonnie Hillyer was on trumpet as well. Unless, someone in the audience made a surreptitious copy, I'm afraid this last concert is irretrievably lost. see pages 442 & 443 of Robin Kelley's recent book (casebound edition) March 26, 1976, Carnegie Hall - quintet - Paul Jeffrey (ts), Toot (dm), Larry Ridley (b) & Lonnie Hillyer (tp) according to RK his actual final concert was June 30, 1976, Carnegie Hall with his regular quartet & sharing the bill with Dizzy Gillespie Edited January 22, 2011 by romualdo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 using a time machine is always risky - take it from one who caused the last big banking crisis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertrand Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 The thing about sitting in with Blakey at the Vanguard is apparently common knowledge in the NYC music circles - I heard it from a former Messenger (but not one who was in the band at the time). I'm surprised that the story would not have been on RK's radar screen, if only for him to possibly refute after studious research. Looking at Mike Fitzgerald's Blakey chronology, this was the week of December 27, 1977-January 1, 1978 - my source also confirmed that Curtis Fuller was there. Odd that this seems to have been Blakey's last gig at the Vanguard - the Gordons never hired him in the 80s??? I will assume it it true unless someone refutes it later. If I were to research this, I would start by talking to Valery Ponomarev, Bobby Watson, David Schnitter and Curtis Fuller. I'm sure they would remember. Bertrand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gheorghe Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Well even if all the books say that Monk´s last apearance in public was sometimes after the last carnegie hall gig 1976 (at Bradley´s where he sat down to play a few tunes), it´s more than possible that the Baroness managed to persuade him to go along with her, when she visited the nite clubs where the great cats that were still alive, had their gigs. Monk sure didn´t decide things himself then, maybe some day he felt a little better and Nica persuaded him to go along with her and maybe he really sat in with Blakey. But as I said, something had hurt Monk too much to continue as a performer. I still want to say that I´d gladly exchange my impressions about the mentioned last recordings with some fans, as I mentioned two days ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardbopjazz Posted January 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 using a time machine is always risky - take it from one who caused the last big banking crisis. Ah, that explains all the C notes with your face on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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