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

[Julian Vein]

Geoffrey Wheeler wrote:
> The reason Riverside chose to “spoon feed” Monk to the jazz public was 
> to try to make him accessible. I’m told Monk sold relatively few 
> records for Prestige when he was actively recording for them. As people 
> came to “understand” his music better in later years, the label may 
> have sold more, but success in the record business is based on “now” 
> sales not sales a decade later. Hence, starting Monk out with an album 
> of known tunes, not his own compositions, made sense to Grauer and 
> Keepnews. I have often wondered whether Columbia made any money off 
> Monk. I enjoyed hearing Monk in clubs and heard him a number of times 
> at the Five Spot, as I did Mingus. One time, I was standing at the bar 
> just as Monk was ending a set, talking  with Art Blakey. When Monk 
> finished, he came over and Art introduced us. I had met Art years 
> before at Boston’s Hi Hat. Monk shook my hand but said nothing. I 
> wasn’t in the least surprised. Oops, I misspelled Art’s name. I got it 
> on good authority from Pee Wee Marquette that it is “Art Blakley”  
> because that’s how I heard Pee Wee introduce him at Birdland.
> _______________________________________________
The story goes that if the band didn't cross Marquette's palm with 
silver, he would vindictively mispronounce the musicians' names!

What puzzles me is why people found Monk's music so difficult. I came to 
him and Bud Powell about the same time and found the former easier to 
grasp. I got interested in jazz about the same time as Riverside were 
starting to record Monk, and found those first two albums boring! My 
first exposure to Monk was on the Miles Davis "Bag's Groove" session of 
December 24, 1954, then some stuff with Sonny Rollins. The later 
Riverside albums are a different matter. Of course, Monk was capable of 
"coasting" with the best of them, and often did (e.g. his endless 
quartet recordings with Charlie Rouse).

      Julian Vein


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