[78-L] Thelonious Monk [was Leonard Feather's Inside Jazz]

[Julian Vein]

Jeff Sultanof wrote:
> Geoffrey,
> 
> Thanks for reminding me that sometimes Giddins doesn't know what he's
> talking about. How he could theorize that Monk was fall-guy is strange. Monk
> was a peripheral figure during that time; few people were into what he was
> doing, and Feather wanted to concentrate on the major figures of the music
> to make his points, as he wrote the book to clear up a lot of
> misunderstandings.
> 
> Giddins does not name these later generations of critics, a common flaw in
> his writing. I believe him, but frankly hindsight is great when you don't
> know the facts.
> 
> Jeff Sultanof
=================
Oddly enough some British critics of the early 50s were more sympathetic 
to Monk and Tristano than they were to "pure" bebop. Personally, I've 
never found Monk "difficult", once you get past the dissonances, and 
felt that the "mysticism" surrounding him was more showbiz hype than 
anything else although I doubt if Monk benefited from it. As far as I 
was concerned Riverside's policy of spoon-feeding him to the public was 
unnecessary. I didn't care for his first two albums for that label, and 
felt they represented a step (actually two) backwards.

His previous work for Prestige was the best, because, unlike Blue Note, 
they didn't saddle him with second-rank boppers like Idrees Sulieman 
(who came to be a more effective, impudent, player later), Danny Quebec 
West, George Tait, Sahib Shihab, Lou Donaldson etc.


      Julian Vein


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