THELONIOUS MONK QUARTET
Live at Monterey Jazz Festival,'63 Vol.2
( Mobile Fidelity UDCD686) 1997

This is the latest in the long line of highly acclaimed reissues by Mobile Fidelity using their 'Ultradisk II' Gold CD technology. As with the other releases in this series, the quality is flawlessly uncompromising.

Monk was one of the most singleminded and inaccessible of the founding figures of jazz modernity in the 1940's. Singleminded because he had a deep self-belief in his own piano style which was disliked and misunderstood even by many of the beboppers. Inaccessible because Monk did not work with any regularity in those years and his recording opportunities were confined to the small Blue Note label. It wasn't until the late 50's that Monk broke through to many more listeners when he formed a quartet with John Coltrane on the tenor saxophone which played a long residency at the Five Spot Cafe in New York in 1957. By Autumn of 1963, Thelonious Monk had become a top attraction at major jazz festivals which was a high spot in the film, Jazz on a Summer's Day in which he performed the haunting Blue Monk. He was a great success at the Monterey Jazz Festival that summer. Each day during the festival Monk's quartet played with verve, spontinaity, and exhilaration. Certain to please fans both old and new, this re-issue depicts a jazz legend in his prime. Undaunted each time out, he always challenged himself to venture in new directions. It's a sure sign of the confidence and maturity that Monk possessed at this moment in his illustrious career. Monk made the cover of Time Magazine that year and given proper recognition as one of the five key figures in jazz. This album is a landmark recording, and belongs in any classic jazz lovers collection. Highly recommended.

Review by Ben Kettlewell

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