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Artist |
Thelonious Monk |
| Title |
1962-68: The Columbia Years |
| Label |
Columbia |
| Reviewer |
Richard Proplesch |
| Rating |
 |
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You can't reconfigure history, the facts speak for
themselves. In signing with Columbia Records (just after
a fruitful tenure with the Blue Note label), Thelonious
Monk achieved his greatest commercial exposure and
financial stability. Yet, the unorthodox pianist only
recorded a handful of new compositions over a span of
seven albums. Although he was never directly quoted on
the subject, Monk's manager paraphrased his client as
saying that listeners (as well as those musicians
assigned to his original recordings) never really
appreciated all of the nuances that encompassed his
material. Why confuse them with new songs when the older
ones were still being re-discovered. History, of course,
has proven Monk correct on that point. His work is still
cited as a significant milestone, and it's still being
examined and dissected as we speak. Yet, Monk's Columbia
catalog is routinely bashed by critics as rehashing old
ideas.
In his essay included with this 3-CD set, author
Peter Keepnews suggests that Monk was trying to
demonstrate a point. Driven by the comfort and
confidence of a steady touring band (Butch Warren or
John Ore on bass, drummer Frankie Dunlop, and the
articulate barrelhouse tenor of Charlie Rouse), he re-
recorded his work to match the sound in his head- to
prove his music had a compelling, universal groove, as
well as its own idiosyncratic inner life.
This set not
only collects the better moments of Monk's revival
(where Rouse takes a solid toe hold of nuggets
like "Crepuscule With Nellie" and "Pannonica"), but also
unearths some different takes and restores some edited
ones, with a few performances that reveal the pianist
taking his stride way outside. During the mid-'60s, Monk
may not have had much new to say, but he said it to last
for eternity.
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© 2001 AMZ/music-reviewer.com
Robert R. Lewis
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