Two years on from
inaugurating this place, I wanted to bring Monk’s
’Round Midnight front-and-center. Working out the transcription
in 1989 and recording it into the disklavier
in 1993, daily practice recommenced in January to revive it, making possible the
recording in March.
Like Duke Ellington, Monk’s music and playing is beyond category.
Orrin Keepnews was his producer at Riverside Records from 1955 to 1961. In 1986
he reflected upon how Monk
“created a band style molded around his own ideas and shaped to his own manner of playing, much as Jelly Roll Morton and Duke Ellington did before him.” I continue to feel that to appreciate properly Monk's work and his position in jazz history it is essential to understand that he stands in a direct line of succession from Morton and Ellington.
