News of a previously unreleased recording by any of jazz’s ‘holy trinity’ is a reason to get excited. Now two have come along in the space of a few months, for hot on the heels of Verve/Impulse’s chart-topping Coltrane release comes this precious lost treasure from the prime-era of Thelonious Monk, featuring a previously unreleased recording of his most critically acclaimed Quartet (with whom he also recorded ‘Criss-Cross’ and ‘Monk’s Dream’) live at Old Fellow Palæet, Copenhagen in 1963.
With the original tapes recently saved from a skip, some 55 years later the recordings have now been faithfully restored, mastered and cut using Gearbox’s legendary all-analogue process (even using the exact same lathe as Blue Note did back in the day). The result reveals a window into a performance that shows Monk in his prime, just one year before he would go on to become one of only 4 jazz artists to ever appear on the front cover of TIME magazine.
What Music Means To Me
Michael Howell is Hifi Pig’s latest sometime contributor. In the first of his ‘semioccasional’ articles he tells us how he came to love music and what it means to him…there’s a few recommendations in here too. More »