Five Thelonious Monk albums remastered and reissued in new 10″ box set

Recorded by the legendary jazz pianist between 1952 – 1954.

All of Thelonious Monk’s Prestige 10″ LPs are being released in a new box set from Craft Recordings, out this December in honour of what would have been his 100th birthday.

Read more: The sample legacy of radical jazz pianist Thelonious Monk

While the early 1950s are regarded as some of Monk’s most creative – and include his timeless recordings with Sonny Rollins – they were also fraught with difficulty.

As Robin D.G. Kelly writes in the liner-notes, “following an unjust run-in with the law, the jazz musician’s cabaret card was revoked, preventing him from performing at New York clubs, and restricting his income. The artist’s fortune began to change, though, in 1952, when Prestige Records’ founder Bob Weinstock offered Monk a recording contract.”

Thelonious Monk’s The Complete Prestige 10-Inch LP Collection includes all five 10″s that the pianist recorded for Prestige: Thelonious Monk Trio: Thelonious (1952), Thelonious Monk Quintet Blows For LP, Featuring Sonny Rollins (1953), Thelonious Monk Quintet (1954), Thelonious Monk Plays (1954), and Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk (1954).

All of the albums have been restored and remastered from the original tapes by Joe Tarantino.

The collection also includes a booklet with liner notes written by the author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, Robin D. G. Kelley.

Thelonious Monk’s The Complete Prestige 10-Inch LP Collection is out 15th December. Head here for more info, check out the track list and listen to ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ below.

Tracklist

Disc 1:

Thelonious Monk Trio: Thelonious

Side A

1. Little Rootie Tootie
2. Sweet And Lovely
3. Bye-Ya
4. Monk’s Dream

Side B

1. Trinkle, Tinkle
2. These Foolish Things
3. Bemsha Swing
4. Reflections

Personnel:

Thelonious Monk – piano
Gary Mapp – bass
Art Blakey – drums (A1 through A4)
Max Roach – drums (B1 through B4)

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, NJ; October 15, 1952 (A1 to A4) and December 18, 1952 (B1 to B4).

Disc 2:

Thelonious Monk Quintet Blows For LP
Featuring Sonny Rollins

Side A

1. Let’s Call This
2. Think Of One

Side B

1. Friday The Thirteenth

Personnel:

Thelonious Monk – piano
Sonny Rollins – tenor saxophone
Julius Watkins – French horn
Percy Heath – bass
Willie Jones – drums

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City; November 13, 1953

Disc 3:

Thelonious Monk Quintet

Side A

1. We See
2. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Side B

1. Locomotive
2. Hackensack

Personnel:
Thelonious Monk – piano
Ray Copeland – trumpet
Frank Foster – tenor saxophone
Curly Russell – bass
Art Blakey – drums

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ; May 11, 1954.

Disc 4:

Thelonious Monk Plays

Side A

1. Work
2. Nutty

Side B

1. Blue Monk
2. Just A Gigolo

Personnel:

Thelonious Monk – piano
Percy Heath – bass
Art Blakey – drums

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ; September 22, 1954

Disc 5:

Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk

Side A

1. The Way You Look Tonight
2. I Want To Be Happy

Side B

1. More Than You Know

Personnel:

Thelonious Monk – piano
Sonny Rollins – tenor saxophone
Tommy Potter – bass
Art Taylor – drums