Genius Of Modern Music: Vol. 2 (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition)

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Total Tracks: 18   Total Length: 60:53

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Kevin Whitehead

eMusic Contributor

05.18.11
Among his finest
2001 | Label: BLUE NOTE

By the time Monk recorded these quintet and sextet dates for Blue Note in 1951 and '52, he was a long way from being a success — let alone a jazz saint. But the original tunes he brought are among his finest: the skittering "Skippy"; "Four in One," whose frantic phrases have tripped up more than one interpreter; "Ask Me Now," one of his lyrical ballads; and the celebrated, stuttering "Criss Cross," abstract even by the standards of the bebop movement where Monk never quite fit. As pianist, he's a trickster who at the same moment could sound like a fumbling amateur, mashing more keys than the ones he slowly took aim at, and reveal himself as a startling modernist, master of impacted dissonant harmonies. His gap-toothed solos gave the impression his pianos had 22 working keys. Monk's thinking was so advanced, his music didn't enjoy wide currency till after his death in 1982. But some folks had been listening.

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It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »

They Say All Music Guide

On the second volume in this two-disc series Thelonious Monk has come fully into his own as a leader. The program consists almost entirely of original compositions, and in fact it opens with two of his most difficult: “Four in One” (with its conventional bop intro that leads into a bizarre, repeated five-against-two quintuplet sequence) and the forbiddingly abstract “Criss Cross.” Get through those and you’ll eventually be rewarded with the relatively straightforward, blues-based “Straight No Chaser” and the sweet ballad “Ask Me Now,” among other treats. Sidemen include the young trumpeter Kenny Dorham and bassist Al McKibbon, as well as a more clued-in Art Blakey and (replacing Blakey on half of the program) Max Roach. Sahib Shihab’s sax tone is more appropriate this time out, and the production quality is somewhat better. This disc, along with Volume 1, belongs in every jazz collection. [The CD reissue includes numerous alternate takes and features a chronological song order; thus, its program is very different from that of the LP that it duplicates in the catalog. The same is true of Volume 1.] – Rick Anderson

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