Thelonious Monk - Always Know (1993)

The Village Vanguard was packed with people waiting to hear Thelonious Monk. By the time I got there, the only seats left were the chairs lined up against the wall on stage. That night, the tenor saxophonist in the Quartet was Pat Patrick, a friend of mine from Sun Ra's Arkestra. He was sitting next to me with horn in hand waiting for the leader.
After about ten minutes, we saw Thelonious across the room, wasting no time heading for the stage. As he was passing us to hang up his coat, Pat gave him the familiar greeting, "Hey, what's happenin'?"
"Everything is happening all the time" Monk said, continuing his forward motion toward the closet behind the drums. Then, turning around with raised index finger, he added "every googleplexth of a second!"
Everything is happening all the time in Monk's music. Whether he is soloing or accompanying or laying out, you know he's there. The period of music recorded here (1962-1968) is Monk at his happiest. Charlie Rouse had the perfect tone for the unison melodies. Thelonious' piano got better and better over the years and just bursts out with passion and excitement.
The Quartet has a beat as strong as the best rock'n'roll. This is especially obvious when Butch Warren and Frankie Dunlop are in a good mood, as they are here. Monk knows the beat is all important. When I told him that he never failed to have my feet tappin' he lit a cigarette and said, "that's a hell of a compliment."
I actually got paid to go through these tapes to select these 13 songs! But the biggest reward was the first listen to "This is my Story, This is My Song." The name I remember for this hymn was "Blessed Assurance" and it contained Monk's title as part of its lyrics. Maybe he played it as a teenager when he worked with a traveling evangelist. I get more religion from one listen to this track than from a dozen Sunday morning sermons.
Just the thought of a live "Criss Cross" at Newport has kept me worked up since I read the original review of that night in down beat. This is what they opened the set with, which explains why the engineers didn't have their microphones in the right spot yet. (Guest engineer Tom Mark worked miracles, helping me with the preparation of the sound of this tape for its inclusion here.) Two songs later, a beautiful recording was made of Pee Wee Russell sitting in with the Quartet, (Miles And Monk at Newport). The new six bar bridge that appeared that year sounds natural and perfectly logical, of course.
"Light Blue" and "Bye-Ya" have long been overdue to be released. Monk's big band sounded like no one else's. Hall Overton really knew what Monk's sound was all about. I love the collaboration of Monk and Overton and will always wish there could have been more. This is my favorite version of "Light Blue." The opening song of the concert, "Bye-Ya," gets better with every chorus. Phil Woods is always singing when he solos and Thad Jones is a great choice for Monk's trumpet player.
I prescribe "Coming On The Hudson" as therapy for anybody for any reason. It's definitely in the Monk top-ten along with "Criss Cross" and "Gallop's Gallop". He wrote this song while watching the boats from a window of the home of Pannonica de Koenigswarter.
"Introspection" seemed to have an ability to hide from record releases. The only version that got out before was the original on Blue Note, and it was years between its actual recording date and its release. It's a great tune and will keep its mystery no matter how many times you play it.
The alternate takes presented here of "Monk's Dream" and "Shuffle Boil" are special fun for fans who know the original version forwards and backwards. This "Shuffle Boil" was recorded a couple of months earlier than the original and is slightly out of control. Monk fills in vocally where the bass misses at the end. In all fairness to Butch Warren and "Shuffle Boil" and yourself, check out the excellent version on It's Monk's Time.
"Played Twice" and "Easy Street" were both edited for the original releases in order to make room for more songs on the discs. "Played Twice" was recorded during the Quartet set the night of the Big Band at Lincoln Center. Monk had planned to play and record it earlier that year at Newport, but there wasn't enough time to include it in the set. I'm glad he remembered it for this concert. "Easy Street" was part of a great trio session in 1968. In this unedited version, Larry Gales steps out with a beautiful bowed bass solo.
The beginning of "Honeysuckle Rose" never made it to tape, but what's there paints a great picture of a late night, last song at the Jazz Workshop.
It doesn't matter whether it takes time to let Thelonious' music reach you or whether it hits you instantly. What counts is that once it enters your soul you will always know, its message. And to me, among other things, its LOVE. It's there - every googleplexth of a beat.
Terry Adams.