Monk + Giants of Jazz tour

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

I was just thinking, do you think maybe Monk finally had enough of playing when he had to go on tour, with a different band, like not his quartet.  sonny stitt, kai winding, art blakey.....whats the deal with the giants of jazz tour.  did monk really want to do it

Edited October 12, 2017 by chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez

[Gheorghe]

I got quite a few records from that tour, the most famous is the Atlantic double album from London.

I must say that Monk plays fantastiallyc, and he does really interesting stuff on tunes that was written by Diz, like Tour de Force, Woodyn You etc.

It´s Diz´ compositions that seemed to appeal to Monks piano style. The chord progressions , you know.....

I don´t know if Monk was happy with that surroundings, he was really subdued during that time and had worn out like Bud had worn out a few years before.

Anyway it was too long a time with quartet surroundings with always the same tunes. So maybe it would have been a break , a new inspiration but Monk was really ill and eventually would retire.

But just from the musical point of view it´s great what he does behind the soloists, behind Diz, Kai, Sonny, and Blakey was his alltime favourite on drums.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Gheorghe

[JSngry]

I remember that the buzz about the Atlantic record was that this was not the full potential of the group realized on record, but don't worry, one that did was in the can and on the way. I've kinda looked out for other dates that have come out, and I can't say that any of them really generated more energy or whatever than the Atlantic record did. so...huh.

[BillF]

9 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

I was just thinking, do you think maybe Monk finally had enough of playing when he had to go on tour, with a different band, like not his quartet.  sonny stitt, kai winding, art blakey.....whats the deal with the giants of jazz tour.  did monk really want to do it

I saw the Giants of Jazz in London. Jazz was at a particularly low ebb at the time audience-wise and my recollection is that for former leaders, like Monk and Blakey, keeping a group together was no longer economically viable. 

[sidewinder]

4 hours ago, BillF said:

I saw the Giants of Jazz in London. Jazz was at a particularly low ebb at the time audience-wise and my recollection is that for former leaders, like Monk and Blakey, keeping a group together was no longer economically viable. 

That’s right. I don’t think those Blakey Prestiges and Roulettes got a release over here apart from ‘Gypsy Folk Tales’, which almost seemed like a comeback. The only Blakey releases I remember seeing around that time are the ones on Sonet (‘The Bop Session’ and ‘In Walked Sonny’). 

[JSngry]

2 hours ago, sidewinder said:

I don’t think those Blakey Prestiges and Roulettes got a release over here apart from ‘Gypsy Folk Tales’, which almost seemed like a comeback.

Wow, that's a drag. All three were good, and the two with Woody Shaw & Carter Jefferson were really good, imo, the last of the really "forward" Messengers albums (Keystone 3 being a notable exception!).

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

did live jazz in general suffer from moving out of the clubs and onto the festivals.....i mean the fusion stuff comes off okay but like these allstar acoustic jazz mega shows like on youtube from the 80s n stuff,i just dont see how you can play acoustic jazz like that stadium-rock style, and really groove right, u see what im sayin

[JohnS]

I saw the band in London.  I don't recall it being particularly exciting.  My main recollection is that  Blakey, Winding and McKibbon came into the same pub we were in for a pre gig drink.  Didn't have the nerve to approach them.

[Gheorghe]

Anyway, Monk did his last solo and trio recordings in London . There are some fantastic things and it´s just inbelievable how he does tunes like "Trinkle Tinkle", a really hard tune anyway with stride piano in the left hand. Same with "Rootie Tootie". He still had it all on piano. There is a bad recorded example of Monk from 1975 where he really fumbles with the left hand . But this can be due to illness or some ailment.

The Giants were in Viena in 1972 but it was a year before I got mature enough to dig jazz. Two older friends of mine reported later that on this special occasion Diz had not arrived and was replaced by Cat Anderson and Clark Terry.

The Sonet "Bop Session" doesnt have Blakey and Monk, it´s 1975 and has Max Roach on drums and John Lewis and Hank Jones on piano, Sonny STitt on sax and Percy Heath on bass, so that´s something else than the Giants mentioned in this topic. But there is one (bootleg?) record of the Giants called "Bop Fathers".

Edited October 14, 2017 by Gheorghe

[sidewinder]

On 12/10/2017 at 5:56 PM, JSngry said:

Wow, that's a drag. All three were good, and the two with Woody Shaw & Carter Jefferson were really good, imo, the last of the really "forward" Messengers albums (Keystone 3 being a notable exception!).

Yep, I don’t recall anything Blakey-wise other than those low-profile Sonets plus an Atlantic reissue of the album with Monk prior to ‘Gypsy Folk Tales’, which came out on Pye (no doubt a deal with Mr Levy).

[Fabio Baglioni]

This seams to me, one of the few cases where 'drummer'.,: Roy Haynes  takes the 'drums' at the place of the 'drummer+Giant..,: Art Blakey,.!!,. But  it is all another  'drumming-sound/style'..-

Thelonius Monk,p*THE GIANTS Of JAZZ*,,+,,ROY HAYNES,1972..
 , Live in Kohln, at Messehalle Cologne ,Germany,..
 on  5’' November 1972  ,cd141., t ,70''.,  intere session,..
,Dizzy Gillespie,.tp,, Kai Winding,.tb,, Sonny Stitt, sax ..
 ,Thelonious Monk.,p,, Al McKibbon,.cb,, ROY HAYNES,.dr ..-
1 Blue'n'Boogie,, 2 Lover Man,, 3 Dexterity,, 4 Stardust..
5 And Then She Stopped,, 6 I Can't Get Started,,
7 Night in Tunisia ,,8 Round Midnight.. -
-

 

 

[Shrdlu]

I saw that lineup in Australia. I knew it would be my only chance to see those legends, so I decided to see them in two cities. I was on the same airplane with them one day.

I agree with Art Blakey that the project was a bad idea. It was an opportunity to see these greats, but the music was just a matter of going through the motions. Monk played well, but I saw him offstage and he wasn't all there. Diz was ministering to him.

As mentioned above, the tour enabled Monk's solo and trio recordings in London, England, to be made. They are superb, and, for me, more enjoyable than his late 1940s Blue Note material. The Mosaic set, for some reason, didn't include all of the tracks, but the (three) separate CDs, with everything, have always been easy to obtain.

[Ken Dryden]

MIchael Cuscuna explained later that he did not have access to the Black Lion vault, so of course, the alternate takes from Monk's sessions were found after the Mosaic boxed set was released.

[Gheorghe]

On 5.11.2019 at 0:08 AM, Fabio Baglioni said:

This seams to me, one of the few cases where 'drummer'.,: Roy Haynes  takes the 'drums' at the place of the 'drummer+Giant..,: Art Blakey,.!!,. But  it is all another  'drumming-sound/style'..-

Thelonius Monk,p*THE GIANTS Of JAZZ*,,+,,ROY HAYNES,1972..
 , Live in Kohln, at Messehalle Cologne ,Germany,..
 on  5’' November 1972  ,cd141., t ,70''.,  intere session,..
,Dizzy Gillespie,.tp,, Kai Winding,.tb,, Sonny Stitt, sax ..
 ,Thelonious Monk.,p,, Al McKibbon,.cb,, ROY HAYNES,.dr ..-
1 Blue'n'Boogie,, 2 Lover Man,, 3 Dexterity,, 4 Stardust..
5 And Then She Stopped,, 6 I Can't Get Started,,
7 Night in Tunisia ,,8 Round Midnight.. -
-

 

 

Great drumming, no question, I was lucky I saw Roy Haynes live. 

But here it´s not very representative for the Giants of Jazz, it seems to be a drum suite with the horns fillin in here and there. 

Is there more material of the whole set, with the mentioned tunes ? 

[Fabio Baglioni]

6 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

Great drumming, no question, I was lucky I saw Roy Haynes live. But here it´s not very representative for the Giants of Jazz, it seems to be a drum suite with the horns fillin in here and there. '..Is there more material of the whole set, with the mentioned tunes ? 

'Grazie' dear Mr. Gheorghe for this post/comment.. Yes I have the full intere lenght Live concert.,- Look, in my own YouTube-page I simply post/Uploads small, short music Clips of few minutes, just to give an 'idea' how the music is about. Infact in this  short-Giant ''music spot'' I only have Uploaded a small part of the drums solo of Roy Haynes. I agree with ''YOU'' that Roy Haynes is in a way ''out'' of the music-style(*real school of ,,Be-Bop), Roy is a bit-more in a  'new-modern' drumming(*see him with.,: Chick Corea ,Trio Music , then later with.,: Pat Metheny ,Trio).,-

-  ,,  -

 

[JSngry]

You gotta love somebody who started out playin Pre-Bop became a great Be-Bop drummer and then kept moving to Post-Bop without, literally, ever missing a beat. Roy Haynes is a truly remarkable musician - and a sharp dresser to boot!

[Gheorghe]

Anyway, Be-Bop means not to stand still, to move the stuff further and further. Listen to the sets Bird did with Roy Haynes. That´s just Incredible and ahead of the time. 

[Gheorghe]

But I Always hesitate to listen to stuff if I´m not sure it´s legit. As for the Giant´s with Blakey on drum (the regular Group) I think the Atlantic double Album is reprezentative, I´ve heard once about a 1972 record done in Switzerland, but never saw or heard it. 

But the Roy Haynes featuring stuff should have been recorded, indeed, but maybe during those days the organisator George Wein though Blakey is a bigger Name since he led his own Messengers...…., who knows…….

If I want to listen to some Kind of this Music , Diz and Sonny Stitt playing vintage bop I listen to this one with Max Roach on drums. I would have liked to hear John Lewis on more tracks than just the two he is on (Blue´n Boogie, All the Things you Are). Not that I don´t love Hank Jones, and I never will say else than that Hank Jones is one of the most Wonderful pianists who ever lived, but I really associate John Lewis very much with the early days of bop, when he was in Dizzy´s Bigband and small Group....

[Fabio Baglioni]

Gheorghe.: * I´ve heard once about a 1972 record done in Switzerland, but never saw or heard it.. 

I will try to search around 'jazz/fans-Traders' if may-be someone has this Live jazz sessions of..,:' The  Giants Of Jazz '  from Switzerland ,1972. I will also try for other sessions of..,:' The Giants Of Jazz ' … with Roy Haynes ,on drums .,- 

[mjzee]

1 hour ago, Fabio Baglioni said:

Gheorghe.: * I´ve heard once about a 1972 record done in Switzerland, but never saw or heard it.. 

I will try to search around 'jazz/fans-Traders' if may-be someone has this Live jazz sessions of..,:' The  Giants Of Jazz '  from Switzerland ,1972. I will also try for other sessions of..,:' The Giants Of Jazz ' … with Roy Haynes ,on drums .,- 

This one, recorded November 12, 1972 in Switzerland:

Released on Concord/The George Wein Collection GW-3004 in 1984.  I found a used copy not long ago at Dusty Groove.

[Fabio Baglioni]

Yes , Yes .,!!. Bravoooo !!., Mr. Mjzee, this is the Live concert in Bern Jazz Festival ,1972 , and these are the tunes/tracks played..: 1 Straight, No Chaser  -2 Thelonious  -3 Epistrophy  -4 Don't Blame Me  -5 I'll Wait For You  -6 Sweet And Lovely  

*)-Out of print LP issued as Giants Of Jazz (Concord Jazz GW 3004)..,-

-  ,,  ,,  -
 

 

[Gheorghe]

It´s a shame it is OOP, I thought Concorde is quite a modern label, not so obscure to get out of sight. This really should be re-issued in a legit manner. 

[Fabio Baglioni]

'' I will also try to search for other sessions of.,:''The Giants Of Jazz'' w. Roy Haynes ,on drums ''.,- 

I have found this other  Live 'audio-CD's-Taped' concert of the Giants in London with Roy Haynes.. at the drums place of .: Art Balkey,. I do not have in my-own 'collections' ,THIS, concert, but I can get/receive a cd-copy,. Have a nice 'winter-day'  .,Ciao fabio .,Roma ..- ...........................................                                                     

4515-cd-''The Giants Of Jazz'' Live on 28*October 1972 at ,,Hammersmith Odeon,, London  t.,47'.04  Dizzy Gillespie, tp -Kai Winding, tb -Sonny Stitt, as,ts -Thelonious Monk, p Al McKibbon, b..- Roy Haynes, dr  ,,1 Tour de force (Wee)(first 7:40 minutes very bad sound, lack of high frequences) 12:29 2 Round Midnight (interrupts at 0:10+0:30) 8:24 3 Dexterity (fragment) (interrupts at 0:30) (fade-in-out) 1:56 4 Night In Tunisia (fade-in-out) 4:05 5. Straight no Chaser 13:17 6. Night In Tunisia 6:19     - *)Last two titles might belong to another performance. Circulates as Bruxelles 25.10.72, but the Giants of Jazz never played in Belgium, and the 25th October , was a travel day..,-
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[JSngry]

I seem to recall that George Wein kept the band name going for a while after original members left? For a year or so?

[Justin V]

On 11/8/2019 at 9:24 PM, JSngry said:

You gotta love somebody who started out playin Pre-Bop became a great Be-Bop drummer and then kept moving to Post-Bop without, literally, ever missing a beat. Roy Haynes is a truly remarkable musician - and a sharp dresser to boot!

I just saw him play last week for the third time this year.  Roy is still amazing!