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In 1965 free jazz was in full swing and the first rumbles of jazz rock were on the horizon, but Thelonious Monk was ignoring all that and sticking with the bop he helped invent. At this point in his career the pace of his rhythm had slowed and he seemed to concentrate on the bluesier numbers thereby slowly shifting his music into the prevalent hard bop style of the day. This is a good solid performance by Monk and his gang, no big surprises at this point in his career, but at the same time there was no slacking or just resting on past laurels, Monk was still playing every note like he meant it.
When it comes to Monk’s playing, either you’re a fan or your not, but if you are a fan you won’t be disappointed in the performances on here. The odd voiceings that favor extreme registers of the piano, the gaps of silence in the solos and the obtuse dissonances are all here. The backup band is great too with drummer Ben Riley adding some nice call and response figures during Monk’s intended gaps in his solos. The interplay between Riley and Monk seems to echo similar interplay that was going on in Ornette’s band between Ornette and Billy Higgins. In fact there seems to be a lot of cross influence between Monk and Coleman in general at this point in both of their bands.
This probably isn’t the most fired up version of Monk that you have ever heard, but its still a no-nonsense reading of some of his best tunes backed by a band that totally gets what he is trying to do.