Thelonius Monk - Four Classic Albums (2008)

AVID Jazz presents four classic Thelonious Monk albums on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD (Thelonious Monk Plays The Music Of Duke Ellington / Thelonious Monk & Sonny Rollins / Brilliant Corners / Thelonious Monk). CD1 kicks off in fine style with ‘Thelonious Monk Plays The Music Of Duke Ellington’ recorded in New Jersey way back in 1955. Here Monk takes on an entire album of Ellington standards foregoing any of his own classic compositions in homage to the great man! CD1 continues with the meeting of two jazz giants on the classic album ‘Thelonious Monk & Sonny Rollins’ recorded a couple of years earlier between 1953-4. The guys nearly didn’t make the session when their cab was rammed by a motorcycle, on the way to the studio.. fortunately for us they made the date! CD2 continues with classic Monk..’Brilliant Corners’ recorded in 1956 again with Sonny Rollins on tenor, joined by Oscar Pettiford on piano and Max Roach on drums We round off this superb value for money double CD with an album entitled simply ‘Thelonious Monk’ where we find the great man with two trio formations. Firstly, recorded in October 1952 he is accompanied by Gary Mapp on bass and Art Blakey on drums and then later that year in December he is joined again by Mapp with Max Roach replacing Blakey. The final tracks on this album recorded in 1954 feature Percy Heath on bass while Blakey returns on drums.
All four albums have been digitally re-mastered for probably the finest sound quality ever!