Frank Kimbrough - Monk’s Dreams - The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Sphere Monk (CD)

Details: The genius of pianist and composer Thelonious Monk is unassailable. Since his death in 1982, he has become recognized as one of the greatest composers of jazz - and of the wider world of music. The year 2017 was the centennial of Monk's birth, and brought scores of tributes, including a well-received stay of pianist Frank Kimbrough's quartet at the Jazz Standard club in New York City. Like many jazz pianists, Kimbrough found Monk's music a revelation when he first heard it. From the outset of his career, Kimbrough has returned time and again to Monk's compositions. After nearly four decades of study, reflection, and performance, Kimbrough has established a relationship with these pieces and found a way to express himself through the prism of Monk. When the Standard approached Kimbrough to put together a quartet to play Monk's music, he picked the brilliant rhythm section of bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Billy Drummond. His choice for lead horn voice was the multi-instrumentalist Scott Robinson, with whom he has played for many years and in many combinations, most notably with the Maria Schneider Orchestra. After the first set of the October 17th, 2017 performance at the Standard Kimbrough's friend Mait Jones urged that the group record Monk's entire oeuvre, a feat that Kimbrough had never considered. A jazz fan and co-presenter of his own Princeton series JazzNights Jones began a lifelong appreciation of Monk when he heard the master live at the Five Spot in New York City in 1957. Over the next few days, Jones doubled down on his intent to make the project reach fruition, bringing in his friend and fellow jazz head, Dr. Dorothy Lieberman, to help co-produce the effort. The musicians began the intensive work such a project demands. Finally, in April of 2018 Kimbrough led a trio and then the quartet at Jazz at the Kitano, polishing 30 new tunes on the way to the full Monk catalog of 70 pieces.

Tracklist:

1. Thelonious
2. Light Blue
3. Played Twice
4. Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are
5. Ask Me Now
6. Humph
7. Bright Mississippi
8. Reflections
9. Bemsha Swing
10. Teo
11. Blue Sphere
12. Crepuscule with Nellie
13. Think of One
14. 52nd St. Theme
15. Eronel
16. Bluehawk
17. Little Rootie Tootie
18. Two Timer
19. Ruby My Dear
20. Boo Boo's Birthday
21. San Francisco Holiday
22. Functional
23. I Mean You
24. Shuffle Boil
25. Monk's Dream
26. Evidence
27. Misterioso
28. Four in One
29. Brake's Sake
30. Pannonica
31. Bye-Ya
32. North on the Sunset
33. Introspection
34. We See
35. In Walked Bud
36. Nutty
37. Trinkle Tinkle
38. Blues Five Spot
39. Round Midnight
40. Jackie-Ing
41. Well You Needn't
42. Sixteen
43. Locomotive
44. Gallop's Gallop
45. Children's Song
46. Blue Monk
47. Friday the 13th
48. Criss Cross
49. Raise Four
50. Let's Call This
51. Who Knows
52. A Merrier Christmas
53. Stuffy Turkey
54. Monk's Point
55. Work
56. Brilliant Corners
57. Off Minor
58. Hackensack
59. Oska T
60. Let's Cool One
61. Hornin' in
62. Coming on the Hudson
63. Straight No Chaser
64. Monk's Mood
65. Green Chimneys
66. Rhythm-A-Ning
67. Ugly Beauty
68. Skippy
69. Something in Blue
70. Epistrophy