The Depths · All albums

Monk's Dream

Thelonious Monk · 1963

• Scores: Noise 1, Unease 2, Complexity 3 (each 1 to 5)
• Genre: Jazz, Bebop
• Mood: quirky, playful, brisk
• Sound: angular piano, dissonant harmonies, quartet, stuttering melodies, off-kilter rhythms

Thelonious Monk's first album for Columbia after five years with Riverside was recorded over four days in autumn 1962 at the label's 30th Street Studio in New York, produced by Teo Macero. The quartet is Monk on piano with Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, John Ore on bass and Frankie Dunlop on drums. Most of the material was already familiar from his earlier records, including Bolivar Blues, Five Spot Blues and Monk's Dream itself, which he had first cut for Prestige a decade earlier. Bright Mississippi was the only new composition.

Track list

1. Monk's Dream (6:26)
2. Body and Soul (4:29)
3. Bright Mississippi (8:34)
4. Five Spot Blues (3:15)
5. Bolivar Blues (7:30)
6. Just a Gigolo (2:29)
7. Bye-Ya (6:01)
8. Sweet and Lovely (7:48)