Thelonious Monk - Palo Alto (Live) (2024) [Hi-Res]

"The legendary jazz pianist’s 1968 concert at Palo Alto High School, recorded by a janitor and shelved for decades, captures some of the fiercest, most spirited versions of his quartet’s core repertoire."
- Pitchfork

An unheard recording of a 1968 high school performance by jazz great Thelonious Monk, Palo Alto, has been released by Impulse! Records. It will mark his posthumous debut on the revered label.

The surprise performance came about after 16-year-old high school student Danny Scher had a dream to invite the storied pianist and composer and his all-star quartet to perform a concert at his local high school in Palo Alto, California. Against a backdrop of racial tension and political volatility, the concert took place on 27 October 1968, and was recorded by the school’s janitor.

The teenage Scher was a “jazzhead” with a sense of idealism that was set against the political and social turmoil of the day. That was framed by the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, unsettling revelations about the Vietnam War and violent uprisings across the country. The mood was mirrored in Palo Alto and its neighbouring, primarily African-American town of East Palo Alto.

The 47-minute album features Monk’s regular touring band of tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, bassist Larry Gales and drummer Ben Riley. It also highlights his touring repertoire, which constituted his finest compositions.

The recording remained in the attic of Scher’s family home for many years, and after he contacted T.S. Monk with a view to its release, they chose Impulse! Records, label home of Thelonious’ longtime collaborator and fellow jazz staple John Coltrane. “The house that Trane built” was the perfect home for the new release, almost forty years after Monk’s death.

The pianist’s son T.S. Monk, himself a respected drummer and founder of the Thelonious Monk Institute, says:

“That performance is the one of the best live recordings I’ve ever heard by Thelonious. I wasn’t even aware of my dad playing a high school gig, but he and the band were on it. When I first heard the tape, from the first measure, I knew my father was feeling really good.”
- T.S. Monk