That's The Way I Feel Now

[stevebop]

A while ago I was seeing references to this A&M tribute to Thelponious Monk being reissued. Now, I see nothing about it.

It was a 2-LP set of Monk tunes by everyone from Steve Lacy, Barry Harris and Randy Weston to Peter Frampton. I think it was produced by Hal Wilner

Has anyone heard about a reissue scheule for it. It was supposed to come out on Verve, keeper of the A&M label archives.

[Chuck Nessa]

No, but the last cd incarnation omitted some tunes to fit it on one disc.

[Guest ariceffron]

oh really peter frampton

[danasgoodstuff]

Don't see it on jazzmatazz any more, but it's easy to miss individual items there. Well worth searching out the vinyl, I love all of Wilner's stuff like this--Amacord Nina Rota, Stay Awake (Disney), Lost In the Stars (Kurt Weil)--up to but NOT including Weird Nightmare (Mingus).

[BruceH]

The Nina Rota is the standout, for me. Love that record.

[Free For All]

I remember when this came out. A little hit-and-miss, but not terribly unpleasant.

How's that for cautious optimism?

[Alec]

I bought the CD, had the record (or perhaps still have, I'm not sure).

However, I don't really listen to it much. None of the covers really do much for me.

Ah well, to each their own.

Perhaps I should put it up for sale on Ebay B)

Anyone know what it's going for these days?

[stevebop]

Thanks for your responses.

I thought I had the vinyl but when I went looking for it I couldn't find it. I might have hastily sold it in anticipation of the CD reissue I saw being teeased on Jazzmatazz.

It wasn't the Peter Frampton I was longing to hear again. It was Monk's tunes by Johnny Griffin, Gil Evans, Charlie Rouse, Barry Harris (playing tack piano), Steve Lacy, Roswell Rudd, etc.

I'll be patient!

[mikeweil]

For a first class Monk Tribute, try to get the 4-CD box on DIW-395/398, Interpretations of Monk, documenting a concert at Columbia University on November 1, 1981, produced by Verna Gillis.

Each of the four hour-long sets is led by a different pianist: Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Davis, Barry Harris, Mal Waldron, with two different rhythm teams - Richard davis with Ben Riley or Ed Blackwell - and a frontline of Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, Charlie Rouse and Roswell Rudd.

What more can you ask for? And they do not duplicate tunes!

AMG link

AMG link

[Hank]

For a first class Monk Tribute, try to get the 4-CD box on DIW-395/398, Interpretations of Monk, documenting a concert at Columbia University on November 1, 1981, produced by Verna Gillis.

As AMG alludes to: These were also released by Koch as two 2-disc sets in the late 90s. Not sure what their availability is like these days, but definitely worth the purchase.

I see there's a copy of Volume 1 listed at half.com for $21.99.

Edited April 21, 2004 by Hank

[brownie]

I have kept my copy of the 2LP release of that Monk tribute. A nice album full of surprises and fun ideas like 'Little Rootie Tootie' played by NRBQ or 'Reflections' with Steve Khan on guitars and Donald Fagen on synthetizers. Jazz interest was pretty high with several duets featuring Steve Lacy (with Gil Evans on 'Bemsha Swing', Elvin Jones on 'Evidence', Charlie Rouse on 'Ask Me Now'), Carla Bley's band - with Johnny Griffin - on 'Misterioso'.

Peter Frampton was on 'Work' with Chris Spedding, Marcus Miller and Anton Fig.

[jazzbo]

NOT including "Weird Nightmare"? THAT's the keeper if you ask me!

[danasgoodstuff]

Lon/Jazzbo,

For me Weird Nightmare was just trying too hard to be eclectic and 'interesting' and just generally too focused on Mingus the character (not that that's exactly uninteresting, but...) and not enough on Mingus the musician (not that you can totally seperate the two).

[jazzbo]

Well, it's grown on me over time, and the mingling of the instrumentation of Harry Partch with the music of Mingus has proven to be the keynote holding its interest for me. Really, I didn't get that man and music thing at all to be any differently than the Monk lps, which I found the interpretations much less interesting than was the case with Weird Nightmare. Maybe it was the huge bass marimbas and cloud chamber bowls that made the difference. . . . Either way I really enjoy Weird Nightmare and even have two copies, an Austrian and an American. Just in case. . . B)

Thanks for explaining!

Edited April 22, 2004 by jazzbo

[danasgoodstuff]

Perhaps I'll have to give it another go...

[alankin]

It doesn't look like Verve ever did a two-CD version of the 2 LP Monk tribute. Another excuse to hook up a turntable.

[ejp626]

It doesn't look like Verve ever did a two-CD version of the 2 LP Monk tribute. Another excuse to hook up a turntable.

As I have recently hooked up a turn-table, this was towards the top of my list to listen to. I didn't realize that there was a truncated version of this on CD floating around. I wonder what was dropped. I guess some people think it is corny, but I really dig "Work". While some of the Monk tributes by more traditional jazz artists (including the one on Koch mentioned above) often have a higher level of musicianship, I really like the contrasting styles and approaches.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Here's what didn't make the CD issue:

Shuffle Boil - John Zorn, Arto Lindsay, Wayne Horvitz

In Walked Bud - Terry Adams and friends

Criss Cross - Shockabilly

Jackie-ing - Mark Bingham, John Scofield, Steve Swallow, Brenden Harkien, Joey Baron

Friday the 13th - Bobby McFerrin

Gallop's Gallop - Steve Lacy

Bye-Ya - Steve Slagle, Dr. John, Steve Swallow

Mike

[Leeway]

What are some of the other Monk "tributes" worth listening to?

[ejp626]

The McFerrin piece is no great loss.

The Koch 4 disc set is quite good. I think it is OOP, but copies float around. I got mine through DMG. My collection is very scrambled at the moment, but I will list some of my favorites later. One of the more unusual is Monk Suite by the Kronos Quartet. Believe it or not, they got Ron Carter to sit in on about half the album.

[mikeweil]

What are some of the other Monk "tributes" worth listening to?

The DIW / Koch 4 CD set I recommended earlier in this thread may be the best ever done.

Besides that:

Tommy Flanagan - Thelonica (ENJA)

Bud Powell - A Portrait of Thelonious (Columbia Legacy)

of course, the many albums Steve Lacy dedicated to the Monk songbook

Giorgio Gaslini Plays Monk

Eddie Lockjaw Davis & Johnny Griffin - Lookin' at Monk (OJC)

Not all tribute albums in the strict sense, but all worth a listen.

[A Lark Ascending]

I really like these:

The latter is actually a really enjoyable record despite the 'all-star' setting.

There's obviously lots of other Lacy Monk to choose from.

[ejp626]

If you are looking for major jazz artists reinterpreting Monk, then there is

Milt Jackson's Memories of Monk and Randy Weston's Portraits of Monk (Weston also did Portraits of Duke Ellington, which I like).