Monk "Les Liasons Dangereus"

[Big Beat Steve]

I was referring to his "Exclusively for my friends" set of recordings which I think are his best-known MPS recordings. But it is a minor detail, of course ...

[mikeweil]

Monk on MPS? No way.

[Dub Modal]

I have this, enjoyed the first few listens then set it aside for a while. Listened again recently and it's not my favorite Monk. Not bad, but it won't be the first of his albums/comps I'll play when the time comes. 

[Teasing the Korean]

2 hours ago, mikeweil said:

Monk on MPS? No way.

He did the Oliver Nelson album.  Slap a pair of MPS labels over the Columbias, and no one would be the wiser.  

[JSngry]

Did Oliver Nelson ever arrange an MPS album?

[clifford_thornton]

no, not that I know of. Not even as a recording licensed from another label.

[Daniel A]

Maybe they should have let Francy Boland do the Monk album? 

[mikeweil]

Boland Plays Monk - why not? But i guess he was busy with his own stuff. 

As much as I appreciate Nelson - he was not the perfect choice for Monk. Thar was Hal Overton. Nelson did a good job, but simply was not monkish.

Just about as monkish as Wynton Marsalis.

[jazzbo]

As time goes by I appreciate Nelson's arrangements less and less to be honest. As you say, there were better choices.

[Daniel A]

Barry Harris recorded for MPS as well. I maintain that it could - or even should - have happened (Monk recording for the label). Let's say three or four trio albums, a big band date scored by Francy Boland and a quartet session with Lucky Thompson. Maybe also a misguided attempt involving some synths (tellingly marked as "rejected" in the discographies). 

[Peter Friedman]

52 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Barry Harris recorded for MPS as well. I maintain that it could - or even should - have happened (Monk recording for the label). Let's say three or four trio albums, a big band date scored by Francy Boland and a quartet session with Lucky Thompson. Maybe also a misguided attempt involving some synths (tellingly marked as "rejected" in the discographies). 

Final sentence - funny!

[Teasing the Korean]

10 hours ago, mikeweil said:

As much as I appreciate Nelson - he was not the perfect choice for Monk.

it is as close as we came to an Esquivel album of Monk tunes, so I love it for that very reason.  It is the Monk space-age bachelor pad album that should have been released in 1959, but didn't come out until 1968 or whatever.  

[JSngry]

It should have been a Jimmy Smith album, but then it wouldn't have gotten made, period. So it ends up being what it is, which is a record of Monk playing quite well with am L.A. studio band playing kinda rush-job sounding Oliver Nelson charts.

Not that it was without influence, though!

 

[Chuck Nessa]

It sucked. Sort of a Monk parody. The only Monk recording I didn't keep. A stain on Nelson's career.

Edited January 7, 2022 by Chuck Nessa

[Teasing the Korean]

IIRC, the stereo separation is so severe that the Monk is the only thing in the center.  Everything else is mixed hard left or right.

As a result, you can remove Monk's piano playing entirely and replace him with a different pianist. 

Or Jimmy Smith.

Edited January 7, 2022 by Teasing the Korean

[Chuck Nessa]

So uninteresting.

[Shrdlu]

I can't resist saying: How about Monk on C.T.I. in the 1970s?

[JSngry]

Oh man, those records were GREAT!

[Rooster_Ties]

Monk on Fender Rhodes. Nothin’ like it!

[JSngry]

And those duets with Bob James!!!

[mhatta]

For some reason Randy Weston made an album on CTI.  Interestingly, it is not so bad...

 

[JSngry]

That was a really good record too.

[Chuck Nessa]

Randy regretted making it. He was unhappy he was talked into playing electric piano.

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by Chuck Nessa

[JSngry]

I don't regret liking it, though.

I mean, I seldom do, but as a one-off, it's nothing like Destry Rides Again. That one, I regret being curious enough about to finally pay for.