Riffin' (2001)

About this title: Thelonious Monk's Columbia years in the 1960s aren't always given the same degree of attention as his earlier tenure with Blue Note and Riverside, but never has his eccentric genius for fractal-style composition and skittering, angular piano runs been so well recorded. Monk had found his most sympathetic sideman in tenor sax player Charlie Rouse by this time, and although Monk played with Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and the other great sax men of the bop era, none of them had the same relaxed, airy understanding of Monk's geometric-by-way-of Zen compositions the way Rouse did. The clarity ... read more

Tracks:

1. 'Round Midnight [Monk/Hanighen/Willi]
2. Just a Gigolo [Brammer/Caesar/Casu]
3. Epistrophy [Clarke/Monk]
4. Trinkle, Tinkle [Monk]
5. Nice Work if You Can Get It [Gershwin/Gershwin]
6. Brilliant Corners [Monk]
7. Crepuscule With Nellie [Monk]
8. Tea for Two [Caesar/Youmans]
9. Rhythm-A-Ning [Monk]
10. Five Spot Blues [Monk]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.