Thelonious Monk

Europe 2022 press.
This is Monk being properly awkward on purpose. Angular themes, strange turns, tunes that sound like they’re daring the band to keep up. And they do. It swings but in that lopsided Monk way where everything feels slightly tilted and completely right at the same time. Not background jazz. This is lean in and pay attention stuff. Absolute genius behaving exactly as he should. FFO Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Bud Powell, Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane mid 50s