Thelonious Monk is guy who’s music & style you either get or don’t. In falls in the realm of atonal jazz, which some consider to be not so friendly on the ear at times. I think it’s brilliant, and invites the listener in to experience the music in a unique and very personal way. Thelonious played with such reckless beauty, and his phrasing was at times more suggestive than literal– I swear, sometimes I hear notes that aren’t even there. He composed around 70 original pieces and recorded them over and over, so it’s possible to have a huge collection of different arrangements with different flavors.
