Thelonious Monk

[Camelsandhorses]

Masters at work !

[TheSanityInspector]

Two Kenny G fans, I see.

[loobycliff]

So you want me to hit C sharp or C natural? "Er... err, yeah, any one of those. " He hee! Genius.

[aaronamccoy]

nobody could out cool monk

[streiff100]

Awesome, pure genius in action, Socrates, Plato, Copernicus, Jefferson, Einstein, Monk!

[powertrust71]

seems to be a fine line between improv genious and improv failure.took him sometime to get the love..people just didnt get it i guess..this dude makes portraits on the keys..

[crazy4blues]

True story: I met Thelonious Monk, Jr. in Italy, and he said that his daddy said this: "If you play a note that sounds wrong, just keep playing it until it sounds right." I'm not kidding. That's what Monk's son said!

[MrIlleism]

@crazy4blues was it Andre 3000 :) ???

[loobycliff]

@crazy4blues Yes, that's almost exactly the same as what Charles Ives dad used to say to his son. Classical music / jazz, they're very close sometimes.

[utnek69]

I can't believe there is a video. I heard stories about the mind process of Thelonious Monk, those who know or read about him can see what's going on here. Simply amazing.

[aloliver331]

MONk=NOM

[kevinherbert]

Monk punk.....

[slavaleiman]

he is alien!



[avq5]

So great that this was captured on film.

[pookymoh]

jazz lovers see this!

[kunekune88]

Thelonius Monk is amazing :) he inspired me to start improvising jazz pieces!

[bostontune]

Brilliant, simply brilliant !

[bakanbi]

charlie rouse isn't the brightest tool in the shed but he gave Monk what he wanted

[biggerturtle]

Charlie and Monk. Two of the great greats. Maybe high in this one. The coolest of the cool.

[swarde]

Interesting clip. Thelonious, according to biographer Robin D.G. Kelley, preferred to play without charts, and told his accompanists that the best way to learn the music was to play it by ear. It's surprising that he didn't just say, "Let's play, man!"

[bink2112]

Wacked out of his mind! But great music.

[johnbresnik]

great comedy...

[Jerominus77]

D or G flat? The music is there to stay. Dark and brilliant.

[Toojdwin]

I love how it seems like Monk is barely capable of communicating with Rouse in words, but it seems like their minds are linked when performing.

[JamKar1]

Who is the other cat?

[lenniethedogsparty]

Charlie Rouse, I think.

[VirtuallyForReal]

It is

[M3MPH1SM0J0]

monk sounds like chefs father on south park

[rokrkim]

i want to play  like him..T^T

[teamguido555]

I DO play just like him; WITH BOTH HANDS!!! XD

[spozalito]

This is the funniest part in the whole movie. He asks "what do you want me to play here? It's either c sharp or c natural." And Thelonious Monk says "Yeah, it's one of those."

[odwalla1980]

I Love You, Thelonious.

[keelan111]

You can't get cooler then this man. You just can't.

[tomitstube]

i couldn't agree with you more. i just couldn't.

[tidalriddle]

tru dat for sure. We're still learning from that guy.

[dansimmons21]

@keelan111 slash more baked :D

[gue966]

thelonius is a angel how many for a long long abrazo.

[TheloniousChannel]

"Hit any of 'em. Hit any note you want to, ya know?". Monk was, is and always will be The King of Bebop.

[davishev]

I love his whole attitude...or lack thereof. Just hit any one of them...what great advice!

[flatpick4eadg]

LOL!! We always used to listen to Monk on the way to the gig, wondering what musical audacity he would commit next...remember the elbow chords..LOL!! ..good days.

[jamianm]

the elbow cluster blows me away.

[mgalin1]

If more of us could collaborate like this, the world would be a better place both musically and humanly. . . "any one of them.. . ." makes the world go round. Monk lives!

[travnic11]

Wow I think this really gives way to the theory that either the lsd screwed him up. Or that Monk could have taken some wrong medicine that screwed him over....Not saying his music suffered, but he seems mentally out of it in that video.

[sheatheman]

i don't think he did drugs

[vshmango1]

The guy is musically amazing, but to go and say he didn't do drugs. That's a stretch!

[lunatiCCer]

i think he smoked some weed

[FunnyHaHaFunnyHaHa]

cool

[BoboBerlinsky]

Hey Plax!...this is the way they composed their music...colaberation....they are creating the music together! ... c# .. b.natural?...Monk says "yeah...whatever....he trusted Charlie to pick his notes on the tune...'cuz Charlie was in "tune" with Monk....co-creators of wonderful sounds...there is nothing plastic about it...that's what they used to do in rehearsals...it's the real deal!!! peace...love...bop!!!  creating!

[atocombabaya]

how true my friend!!!!!!

[ivanredskin]

@BoboBerlinsky very druggs................. from barcelona.

[GOTIRES]

That was monks regular personality

[Saxophonic]

he wrote that sheet music just for own personal rememberance, notice how the heads of the notes are done very simply

[cheeseclo]

hahaha. WOW. that sheet music is SLOPPY as hell. i could barely read it.

[Hb35Jazz]

- Just the way it should be ;D

[joebandana]

i watched the whole film of 'Straight no chaser' recently; i highly recommend it to everyone, jazz lover or not you'll love seeing this quirky giant go round doing stuff playing music etc. it's hilarious at times, sad at times, and mind-bogglingly great music is filled throughout it. this is just a very small taste of what the film is really about - a true musical genius

[plainwain]

What's the argument about? Improvisation is a creative genre that need not be explained. Monk once said playing cords that eventually sound bad is no good; but playing cords ( unusally arranged ) and making them sound good is the key (pardon the pun). Most all musicians agree that Monk was unprecedented and even still remains numero uno as an improv musician.

[altosaxbeboper09]

man i understand your passion but im sure he was just joking. Please try not to be so aggresive.

[orestes988]

love this song! thanks for posting.

[bigkingsha]

Shut up - half of you snot balls can't even identify the chords he plays. Go change your maxi pads & play with your little ProTools set.

[rscottmurray]

the man is a genius. who gives a damn if his demeanor or his talking voice makes you uncomfortable? get a grip and dig his music if you can. THAT'S his talking voice.

he tells Charlie the name of every chord he asks for, and the chart was written by Monk.

[rillloudmother]

#1 monk WAS NOT a schizophrenic. #2 monk's compositions are know for how challenging they are, even to seasoned jazzers. his concept of harmony was all his own.

[stereoagentr826]

its almost sad to watch monk, this really shows you how he was, and how his mental illness affected his life, and others.

[CCEX]

Thanks for posting this clip. This shows how tough it was for musicians to learn a new Monk composition. Here Monk says "play any note you want to". Elsewhere in the movie he says "you rehearse every time you play your instrument". Sometimes he would write out parts musicians swore were impossible to play. He had to remind John Coltrane and Coleman Hawkins how great they were when they first tried to learn a new, counterintuitive Monk tune.

[baloniousdunc]

if you are playing a dominant chord you can play any note you want with it and it will sound fine from a modern understanding. Try it -play a "c," an "e" with a b flat and put any other

note with it as a tension.

[altosaxbeboper09]

CCEX are you saying these two things are contradictory

[DiamondQualityREC]

Musical genius! However, he wasn't much of a conversationalist.

[Saxophonic]

most of the musical genius's were not good at having a conversation

[usfins]

monk was a scitzophrenic. lost his mind later on a great shame. sdly missed.

[Obese6]

yeah this video sucks

[jimboburgess]

neh, he's just a crazy mother'ucker

[rj32zx]

lol...is monk on something?

[fetze]

really funny to hear him talking. reminded me of miles' voice a bit.

[bigdades]

It says this is part of the "Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser" documentary. I'm amazed. we very rarely have a chance to see and hear a great musician and composer during the process of creation!

[Saxophonic]

i want to be like this when i'm older, people writing music for me :D

[Jeaneathean]

I enjoyed this little clip tremendously. Particularly the hats. Where did this little gem come from?

[jareman27]

That's actually the first time i've heard him talk. It was kind of a let down :D

[yotambientequiero]

Monk is God