Solo Monk

London Collection, Volume 2 is the second installment of Thelonious Monk’s final recording session as a band leader. The album features bassist Al McKibbon and drummer Art Blakey backing up Monk as he plays eight original tunes. It was remastered from original analog tapes by Bernie Grundman for the first vinyl pressing in over 27 years.

Originally released for Record Store Day 2015 as an exclusive clear vinyl edition, it will now see a wide release on 180gram audiophile-grade black vinyl, pressed at Pallas Group in Germany.

Track Listing:
A1 Evidence
A2 Misterioso
A3 Crepuscule With Nellie
A4 I Mean You
B1 Criss Cross
B2 Ruby My Dear
B3 Nutty (Take 2)
B4 Hackensack

The third and final installment of Thelonious Monk’s London Collection, his last recording session as a band leader, finally gets its time to shine on vinyl. The recording features the legendary pianist/composer on six solo performances as well as five numbers with bassist Al McKibbon and drummer Art Blakey. It was remastered from original analog tapes by Bernie Grundman and pressed on 180gram audiophile-grade vinyl at Pallas in Germany.

 

1. Trinkle Tinkle
2. The Man I Love
3. Something In Blue
4. Introspection
5. Trinkle Tinkle
6. Crepuscule With Nellie
7. Nutty
8. Introspection
9. Hackensack
10. Evidence
11. Cordially

As Scott Yanow puts it in his five-star review for AllMusic, "This is one of pianist-composer Thelonious Monk's greatest recordings and represents a high point in his career... essential for all jazz collections." Big Band and Quartet in Concert, Monk's fifth album for Columbia records, was recorded live at Lincoln Center in New York City on December 30, 1963. The album is coming back to vinyl for the first time in over two decades with this double LP 180gram reissue, which was mastered from original tapes by Bernie Grundman and pressed at Pallas in Germany for a true audiophile experience.

Track Listing:
I Mean You
Evidence
(When It's) Darkness On The Delta
Oska T.
Played Twice
Four In One
Epistrophy

This release has long been considered Thelonious Monk's acknowledgement to the flourishing youth-oriented subculture from whence the collection takes its name. Certainly the Grammy-winning cover - which depicts Monk as a World War II French revolutionary toting an automatic weapon - gave the establishment more than the brilliant swinging sounds in the grooves to consider. Underground became Monk's penultimate studio album, as well as the final release to feature the '60s quartet: Charlie Rouse, Ben Riley, and Larry Gales. This 180gram audiophile-grade pressing was mastered from analog tapes.

 

1. Thelonious
2. Ugly Beauty
3. Raise Four
4. Boo Boo’s Birthday
5. Easy Street
6. Green Chimneys
7. In Walked Bud

Features:
• Mastered from Original Analog Tapes by Bernie Grundman
• Pressed on 180 gram audiophile-grade vinyl at Pallas Group in Germany
• Numbered limited edition of 2,000 Copies

Description:
1963's Criss-Cross served as Thelonious Monk's second recording for Columbia Records following Monk's Dream which was issued earlier the same year. Produced by Teo Macero, the singular pianist is joined on the first-rate 8-song endeavor by the likes of Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone), John Ore (bass) and Frankie Dunlop (drums).

The excellent quartet offers up takes on six classic Monk compositions including "Hackensack," "Criss-Cross," "Eronal," "Rhythm-A-Thing," "Think Of One" and "Crepuscule With Nellie" to go along with compelling renditions of the standards "Tea for Two" (Irving Caesar/Vincent Youmans) and "Don't Blame Me" (Dorothy Fields/Jimmy McHugh).

Monk's Criss-Cross has truly never sounded better than on this 180 gram pressing, which was mastered from original analog tapes by Bernie Grundman and pressed on audiophile-grade vinyl. Limited to 2,000 units worldwide, each copy is individually numbered with a gold-foil stamp.

"In Criss-Cross, his second for CBS, Thelonious is at his greatest. The tightly knit group is woven together by Thelonious' imcomparable piano. From first note to last, the album swings! It is difficult, indeed, to recall that it is sometimes said that Monk's music is not the easiest listening. The only thing which is not easy about Criss-Cross is to keep your foot from tapping, to divert your attention for a single moment from the opening chorus of Hackensack to the last, lovely chorus of "Crepuscule With Nellie."

"...To attempt an analysis, description or explanation of Thelonious's music-making would be superfluous. His greatness lies in the very fact that he transcends all formulas, all well-worn adjectives and cliches; only a new vocabulary, perhaps, could suffice. One thing though, is certain; this is the happiest of albums, leaving one with an extraordinary feeling of elation." - Nica De Koenigswarter, original liner notes.