Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane

I loved half the songs -- Trinkle, Trinkle, Ruby My Dear, Nutty -- and disliked the rest. I don' dig discordant jazz, man, I dig beebop! This is a mono live recording so adjust your speakers accordingly. 5.1 sounds like crud.

"Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane" is a somewhat odd mixture of tracks from different Thelonious Monk recording sessions. Nonetheless, it is an essential purchase for Monk/Trane-a-philes due to the absolute brilliance of the 3 of its 6 tracks which feature the legendary Thelonious Monk/John Coltrane Quartet.

Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane are two of the most seminal figures in the history of jazz. Yet in spite of the acknowledged significance of their brief tenure together in a working band in 1957, until fairly recently there was a dearth of recorded material documenting that union. Up to the point of the release of "Discovery!- Live at the Five Spot" in 1993 (more on that later), the "Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane" album contained the only recorded evidence of the the Monk quartet with Coltrane. The reputation of this album is mostly based on that fact.

Their are 3 golden performances on this album by the Monk-Trane quartet and they are all absolutely indispensable: "Ruby,My Dear", "Trinkle, Tinkle", and "Nutty". It is impossible to say enough good things about these tracks and they are the primary reason to obtain this album.

Contrary to several reviews here at Amazon, the three Monk-Trane quartet tracks on this album were not recorded live at the Five Spot. They were recorded at Reeves Sound Studios in NYC in July of 1957. The only known recorded evidence of the Monk-Trane quartet live at the Five Spot is on the "Discovery! Live at the Five Spot" album.

Because, unfortunately, there were only 3 tracks from the July, 1957 studio session - the rest of this album had to be filled out. The "filler" consists of two alternate tracks from the "Monk's Music" septet sessions (relatively brief re-workings of "Off Minor" and "Epistrophy") and one solo Monk track (a long alternate of "Functional" from the "Monk Himself" sessions - solo Monk is always a welcome addition). While these three tracks are all quite good, they just don't measure up to the brilliance of the quartet material.

With the release of the newly discovered Monk/Trane Carnegie Hall Concert there are now 3 albums/cds featuring the Monk/Trane quartet:

1) "Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane" - the 3 brilliant studio tracks - all recorded in excellent sound quality;

2) "Discovery! Live at the Five Spot" - The only know live recording of the Monk/Trane Quartet performing at their legendary Five Spot engagement in NYC. This recording features absolutely dreadful sound quality as it was recorded non-professionally by Trane's wife at the time (the namesake of "Naima");

3) "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall" - This is it - the one to get. It is rare that a "newly discovered" recording can instantly obtain status as one of the greatest jazz recordings ever made - but that is exactly what has happened with this VOA recording that was discovered sitting on the shelf and was subsequently released by Blue Note in 2005 with a buzz that reached beyond the insular world of jazz. This is the missing link - a full live concert of the Monk/Trane Quartet at the top of their game and recorded in excellent sound quality.


In summary, if you want to check out Monk/Trane Quartet at their best, this album ("Thelonious Monk with John Colrane" - with its 3 studio tracks) and the Carnegie Hall concert are the purchases to make. The release of the Carnegie Hall concert has made the "Discovery! Live at the Five Spot" with it's dreadful sound quality something for completists and absolute Monk/Trane fanatics only (ok - yeah, I own it).

Together, the 3 studio tracks on this album and the Carnegie Hall concert represent not only the best of the Monk/Trane quartet but some of the most important recorded music in the history of jazz - absolutely indispensable.

I really want to adore this CD. After all, it features two of my favorite musicians. And there they are. Monk being inventive and playing his angular style of piano. Coltrane as smooth, fast and inflective as ever. Both instantly reconizable and remarkably their uniquely genius selves. But, after repeated listenings I keep coming away from this collection feeling a sense of detachment. Coltrane is better, way better elsewhere. And McCoy Tyner or Bill Evans lay me out cold accompanying him on piano. And Monk too is more the distinctively Monk and better on other efforts. And most shocking, Charlie Rouse (gasp!) sounds way better to me playing with Monk than Coltrane does.
Yeah Monk & Coltrane, like so many dream team combos, is a great concept, but in this case the result just doesn't shiver my timbers. Sure its good. It almost has to be with these two giants involved, but its not great like so many other examples of these guys' work. But hey, maybe some new Monk Trane session tapes will surface and those will be the ones! Boy, I just can't wait!

The Five Spot in 1957 Thelonious Monk playing live at one of his favorite gigs. Before they became jazz legends Monk and John Coltrane jam on 3 songs. This is a classic jazz recording and one of the few where Monk and Coltrane play together. But check this out you also have Coleman Hawkins on tenor sax, Art Blakey, before his Jazz Messengers days, on drums, Wilbur Ware on bass. Great music.

The sound is not good, but these two masters of jazz of all time together are simply great.