Thelonious Monk: Misterioso [LP]

THELONIOUS MONK

Misterioso

2 Bonus Tracks/ 180gr./ Images by Francis Wolff

Jazz

Bonus Track(s), High Quality, Gatefold sleeve

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Just after John Coltrane left him and before the arrival of Charlie Rouse, Thelonious Monk formed a quartet with Johnny Griffin, which played at the Five Spot Café, in New York, during 1958. The group was recorded there and the resulting music was issued on two albums: In Action and the present Misterioso. Monk hadn’t been working a lot prior to these performances. There was by that time a law that prohibited a musician convicted for drugs in New York to work in any of the city’s clubs for a specific duration of time due to the loss of his “cabaret card”. Monk, like Charlie Parker and many others, had been a victim of the system, and thus he was unable to play New York clubs for a time (although he could play theatres such as Carnegie Hall and other places that didn’t sell alcohol). These were Monk’s first issued live recordings (that is, taped live, but recorded with professional equipment). However, many other previous live recordings made under non-professional conditions have surfaced since.

PERSONNEL:

THELONIOUS MONK, piano
JOHNNY GRIFFIN, tenor sax
AHMED-ABDUL MALIK, bass
ROY HAYNES, drums

Live at the Five Spot, New York, August 7, 1958.

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TRACKS:

• • • Nutty 5:22
      2. Blues Five Spot 8:07
      3. Let's Cool One 9:17
      4. Light Blue 5:17 (Bonus Track)
      5. In Walked Bud 11:20
      6. Just a Gigolo 2:09
      7. Misterioso 10:51
      8. Coming On the Hudson 5:27 (Bonus Track)