With his steady quartet of veteran collaborators, he had landed himself a new contract with Columbia and recorded 2 milestone albums for them (Monk?s Dream and Criss-Cross). Thelonious Monk died of a stroke in 1982, leaving us with an unparalleled legacy.
By the mid-1970s Monk had disappeared from the scene and made only a small number of appearances during the final decade of his life. In 1944 Thelonious Monk made his first studio recordings?and since then he recorded classic albums for labels such as Blue Note (1947-1952), Prestige (1952-1954), Riverside (1955-1961) and Columbia (1962-1968). In the early to mid-1940s, he was already a house pianist in several Manhattan nightclubs. Thelonious started playing the piano at the age of six and was largely self-taught?at 17, he was playing the church organ, and in his late teens he began to find work playing jazz.
He was also noted for an idiosyncratic habit during performances: while other musicians continued playing, Monk would stop, stand up, and dance for a few moments before returning to the piano. Monk was known for a distinct look which included suits, hats, and sunglasses. Thelonious Monk's compositions/improvisations feature dissonances with complicated melodic twists and are consistent with his unorthodox approach to the piano (which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of switched key releases, silences, and hesitations).
Monk was highly regarded by his peers and by critics, but often his music was regarded as too 'difficult' for more mainstream acceptance. Thelonious Monk is one of five jazz musicians to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine.
He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire?Monk is the second-most-recorded jazz composer (after Duke Ellington) and received prestigious awards for his career achievements (including a Grammy, a Pulitzer Prize and an induction into the Music Hall of Fame). Thelonious Monk (1917 ? 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer who needs little introduction.
0 kommentar(er)
