Gerry Mulligan & Thelonious Monk
Release Date: 01 January 2018
Label: Poll Winner Records
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 8436559464291
Genres: Jazz
Description
JAZZ WAX RECORDS (4599)
LIMITED EDITION CLASSIC LPs - 180g VIRGIN VINYL -AUDIOPHILE PRESSING
GERRY MULLIGAN & THELONIOUS MONK: MULLIGAN MEETS MONK
GERRY MULLIGAN, baritone sax; THELONIOUS MONK, piano; WILBUR WARE, bass; SHADOW WILSON, drums. New York, August 1957. Produced by Orrin Keepnews.
Thelonious Monk was a creator in the true sense of the word. The current LP includes one
of his rare albums that could fit within the standard formula of "jazz star 1 meets jazz star
2". The pianist seldom shared the bill with other stars or accepted playing second fiddle to anyone. Two rare exceptions include his two 1950 sides backing singer Frankie Passions ("Especially to You" and "Nobody Knows"), and his 1950 studio session backing Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. But Monk is the leader on most of his recordings, and in a way, he was also the leading voice on this meeting with Gerry Mulligan.
Most of the tunes played here are compositions by Monk, with the exception of the standard "Sweet and Lovely" – a favourite of Monk's, who recorded it dozens of times – and Charlie Shavers' "Undecided", which could well have been Gerry's only call for the evening. Although it remains clearly recognizable, the latter tune was slightly modified here, retitled "Decidedly" and attributed to Mulligan himself. No other recording of "Undecided" by Monk is known to exist.
"'Round Midnight" was a Mulligan request for the session, as he wanted to record the song with its composer. It is clearly one of the best tracks of the whole album. However, the fact that no new compositions by Monk were recorded on this date seems to indicate that Monk always preferred to make his own albums and didn't dedicate too much time to such experiments as Mulligan Meets Monk, which he may have regarded as a "commercial" venture.
4.5 Stars – Down Beat
"The minutes of this meeting are very interesting indeed. They begin with a lyrical "'Round Midnight" and continue through Monk's brittle "I Mean You". In between, there are stretches of good to excellent Mulligan, brilliant Ware, and good to excellent Monk." (Dom Cerulli)
Tracklisting
Tracklisting
Gerry Mulligan & Thelonious Monk
Dinah Washington
Art Pepper
Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus & Max Roach
Sonny Stitt Quartet
Sonny Rollins
Eric Dolphy Quintet
Wes Montgomery
Mary Lou Williams
