Thelonius Monk Biography, Photos and Posters

Thelonius Monk

Biography

Born: October 10, 1917
Hometown: Rocky Mount, North Carolina but grew up in New York City
Instrument: Piano
Music Training: Home schooled on the piano
Bands and Orchestras: Lucky Millinder, Cooty Williams, Coleman Hawkins
Signature Song: "Round Midnight"
Thelonius Monk bio: Although he was born in North Carolina Monk grew up in the New York music scene. He beagan playing piano when he was 5 and first worked as an accompanist to a traveling evangelist. He was inspired by his neighbor James P. Johnson. From 1940-43 he worked in the house band at Minton's Playhouse. During stints with Lucky Millinder in '42 and the Cootie Williams Orchestra briefly in 1944, he recorded Monk's "Epistrophy" in '42 and was the first to record "'Round Midnight" in '44. However, it wasn't until he became regular pianist with Coleman Hawkins that he began to get noticed. People often remarked about the pianist's unusual style. This, along with his penchant for wearing strange hats, plagued him during the late 40s and early 50s leading even some of his fellow musicians to label him as crazy. Regardless, he made several recording during this period: first with Blue Note in 1947-48 and 1951-52, then with Prestige from 1952-54 and finally with Vogue in 1954. He also laid down a track along with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie for Verve while in Paris. Even though he found work hard to come by during this period and he had to struggle to make ends meet. After signing with Riverside he was persuaded by producer Orrin Keepnews to record an album of Duke Ellington tunes to make his music more accessible to the average jazz fan. This helped change his fortunes and in 1956 he recorded the classic album Brilliant Corners. The following year he along with John Coltrane were booked for a long engagement at the Five Spot. It was during this run that he became recognized for his Jazz genius. In 1959 he appeared in an engagement at Town Hall in New York City and in 1962 he signed with Columbia Records. Two years later he was on the cover of Time magazine. Monk toured constantly during the 60s along with his quartet which now featured tenor Charlie Rouse. From 1971 thru 72 he appeared with the Giants of Jazz then retired suddenly in 1973. Monk was suffering from mental illness which led to his spending the rest of his life in seclusion.
Died: Feb 17, 1982
Links to sites of interest about Thelonius Monk:
http://home.achilles.net/~howardm/tsmonk/tsmonk.php
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Square/9063/index/monk.html
http://www.thejazzfiles.com/JazzMonk.html

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