With his angular piano lines, odd spaces and pauses, dissonant resolves, and quirky compositional sense,
Thelonious Monk was a maverick among mavericks in the bop world, an enigma whose body of work is instantly recognizable, stubbornly consistent, and as insular and mysterious as it was when he first began recording as a bandleader some 60 years ago. Those first recordings, six sessions recorded for
Alfred Lion's Blue Note Records between 1947 and 1948 and 1951 and 1952, show a fully formed
Monk unfurling the stylistic template that he would follow for the rest of his life. This brief set picks highlights from those first sessions, along with two sides recorded with
Sonny Rollins ("Reflections" and "Misterioso") for Blue Note in 1957. Included are the original recorded versions of "Well, You Needn't," "In Walked Bud," "Straight, No Chaser," and "'Round Midnight," featuring such players as drummers
Art Blakey and
Max Roach, vibraphonist
Milt Jackson, pianist
Horace Silver, and alto saxophonist
Lou Donaldson, among others. There are many different ways to get this material, since it has been reissued countless times over the years, and this sampler certainly doesn't tell the whole story, but as an introduction to the strange world of
Monk for the uninitiated, this one does as good a job as any. Consider it a gateway sampler to a world of intricate and fascinating oddness. ~ Steve Leggett