The “Crown Jewels” of the Smith tapes: the arranging and rehearsal sessions spanning a three-week period in 1959 when Thelonious Monk and Hall Overton were preparing the Monk Big Band for the February Town Hall concert. (Originally aired November 23, 2009)
We follow their progress, hear their thought processes and rehearsals and learn more about Monk. With original tentet members Phil Woods, Eddie Bert, Robert Northern; as well as Robin Kelley, Jason Moran, Sam Stephenson, Orrin Keepnews, others.
The Jazz Loft Project Radio Series was supported in part by a grant from The National Endowment for the Humanities; and by an award from The National Endowment for the Arts.
Comments [8]
Man . . . this has been like air and water to me, let alone food . . . I've been rationing these (and later in the day I feel so good pondering these forgotten heroes), and now I'm down to the last two segments . . .
Mr. Doherty has every right to express his opinion.
We, on the other hand, have the exquisite privilege of hearing these episodes, which I personally wish had been developed into one hour pieces as rich as they are with wonderful stuff.
We are only hearing bits and pieces.
I have been looking for a book for after the Gary Giddins' "Visions of Jazz".
A friend of mine and I went to that Monk concert at Town Hall -- a bit of a disappointment for me at the time because Steve Lacy didn't get to take any solos, but a pretty great experience all the same. Your Episode 8 brings back many memories which could convince me that I might have been moderately hip back then.
Bob,
At present, the music is not cleared for commercial or non-commercial recording release. It could be that some individual musicians will be able to sort this out, but it is extremely complicated due to the various estates and archives involved. Stay tuned!
Right now, this series is the best hope for hearing the material.
These Town Hall rehearsal sounds are, for this Monk fanatic, a dream come true! Hearing him talk among his peers and especially demonstrate for them on the piano how it should go is something I've longed to hear. How can I listen to this whole thing unedited and un-talked over?? Thank you so very much for this Episode 8 !!
Congratulations, your program enabled me by accident to discover a link between a favorite Prog.Rock album and Jazz. Episode 8/Monk has original material that I loved in the Tarkus album... Accidental discoveries are fun. Thanks very much for the unexpected pleasure.
I disagree entirely with Mr. Doherty. This is the real stuff. There is no fancy packaging. These are the real musical innovators of the 20th century, warts and all.
I remember reading in Mingus' Beneath the Underdog about his time in Bellview. He described the drawings of other jazz players who preceeded him. The perspective was "professional".
Please! Stop! Condemn the Jazz Loft as unsafe and unlistenable! Enough already. 10 episodes of this is way too much. You are pre-empting NPR programming that is much better. A couple of episodes maybe, but 10 is just a ridiculous indulgence. So out of tune. First The Takeaway and now this. I think I'll just go to NPR's Web site from now on and listen to the programming there.
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