Crepuscule with Nellie - Thelonious Monk from Alexis

[Shooters141]

He must have loved Nellie very much.

[monktrane325]

Monk played rhythm with harmony. Melody was not part of his vocabulary although there are tunes that have a form of melody. He leaves the melodic structure up to his sidemen.

[John27346]

Sounds like honky tonk in the wild west, but not.

[gfine2000]

I can assume that Thelonious studied the rudiments of music but apparently, he'd gone far beyond the basics of music theory. Does anyone know where Thelo studied or who he studied with? Just watching him play shows his expertise in physically dominating the keys. He's awesome and obviously knows what the hell he's doing. I'd still like to know where he studied when he first began playing piano. His mastery of the piano is like no other. He's absolutely confident in his ability to play. Wow!

[RosaBarroca]

THE BEST ON PIANO "EVER", flipo con esa música, TM ME CAUSA CALAFRIOS...

[RosaBarroca]

what is the geniality... HOW MUCH THELONIOUS MONK SENSE FOR MINIMALISM AND SILENCE WAS IN JOHN CAGE?

[doko73]

My man...

[themusicchap]

sounds like someone who knows what they're doing, and what they're doing is trying to sound like they don't know what they're doing.

[nevikmoore]

A beautiful tribute to his wife, whom he loved without fail.

[Doleafol]

I love Monk's collection of hats. If you look at his videos on YouTube, you will see a vast array of hats (like this Chinese inspired one or others from around the world). He was one cool cat. That's for sure.

[JazzyZenBrotha]

An amazing man of music. The King of Bebop!

[dizyootum]

Peace to the god

[NESavoth415]

This is Crepuscule with Nellie.

[NESavoth415]

what a G

[impala327]

Actually, he reminds me very much of Duke.

[CountBuffon]

To me, this song sounds exactly like baby animals learning how to walk. I kind of want to produce a nature documentary now just for that reason.

[kirksiesz]

@CountBuffon That's an awesome interpretation and idea

[ohmphthschwrhu]

@CountBuffon get any picasso painting of a bull to glance at,any monk solo to listen to and a pen to freehand as many 5sided polygons as you can before the song is over.is your creation kaleidescopic,a shadow or a refection of you or somthing you favor

[PorroFirst]

This is unbelievable. Only Dirty Projectors are doing today what Thelonious set in motion.

[diddletang]

@PorroFirst Elaborate please.

[billroue]

Only Monk could get away with playing between the cracks! Pure genius! Listen to Fred Hersch playing Monk. Unbelievable!

[zhaydhee]

Monk was it

[swing2bop1]

lol at the jazz snobs

[DajaWaja]

amazed at how many ppl comment on musical terms without having really no FUCKING idea of what they're talkin

[tomitstube]

a beautiful mind.

[keyzcity]

fa mi ri mi sol la sol la do = )

[Bondelev]

I still get chills from all the "wrong" notes. And I love all the descending harmonic lines, like the sun setting.

[Sodium420420]

flat 5's bras

[jacmar555]

its physicalologicaly chromatic with subtle hints of webian tonality. a tonality close to vulcan music that has no particular emotion in mind other motion.

[outlawv]

Crepuscule: Twilight. Dig Master Monk hanging with wife Nellie in the cool of the changing light. That's for you DC!

[soutousyu]

No, It's Zen mind.

He is Monk.

[Littlewhitelephant]

No it's harmonic and symphonic with playing two halftones like B&C together.

[Andrewrb010]

Modal? CANTALOUPE ISLAND??? WHAT!?!? argggg.

WTF... Seriously?

[sweetlorrainesweet1]

modal or tonal it's not important. the art of Thelonious is important.

[AshwinManOfSteel]

Man, Thelonious is a tank. What av absolute legend... does anyone know where i can find a video of him where he's playing with the squirrels in his hair lol... Would be very grateful :P

Ashwin

[golds04]

Monk-he played the music that was in between the keys...yea, thats how he did it, yea, that was the trick.....Nah, he was just -a genius.RIP

[gluce]

That's a brilliant description, poetically is not literally true!

[gluce]

Oops, I mean "if not."

[MilesTrane21]

Actually, it almost is true. When he plays two notes that are a half step apart (directly next to each other) at the same time, it implies a quarter tone.

[ohmphthschwrhu]

@golds04 hes got 88 puppet strings hooked to the 88 keys on his piano.ten fingers for motive motion and emotion.

[jovesheerwater]

Fantastic, thanks for sharing. Where, when and how do you get to film this???

[johnteddyJoe]

wunderrrrrschön.

[slender1]

I was in the Jazz Gallery in the East Village one night and Monk was playing. After the set I spied Gil Evans and I went over to him and asked if he was going to make an something of "Crepuscle" and he exclaimed "Oh yeah man!" . Don't think he ever got around to it.

[clintisfake]

"seeionowhamplayin"

[rockerbike64]

gracias flaco, joya nunca taxi

[tidalriddle]

I never get enough of those pauses and everything. So right.

[tomitstube]

the blue note master. melodious thunk.

what a mind.

[SWEETCHOCOLATEHONEE]

Love T

[drbrookman]

Yes, it is nostalgic...part blues, part...well, Monk. This is one of his most challenging pieces, and one that works best by himself. Pure originality. I can't think of any other music quite "like" this. Great performance. Where's the rest of the show? Also...check out the intense use of pedal near the end. Wow.

[killingMockbird86]

PUTA MADRE!!!

[eyesoulsmart]

I can listen to this song for hours. It holds so much nostalgia that just takes me different places in my life.

[skullketon]

I'm personally amazed its of colour footage of Thelonious, these are so hard to find.

Wonderful music as always :)

(Do you know where the complete footage is?)

[jamyro22]

Skullketon : Use the lift right side & click "thelonious monk - jazz portrait 2/6 - crepuscule with nellie " or type it to find out the complete footage. Have a nice day.

[skullketon]

I noticed that 4 weeks ago but hey, thanks for the heads up.

[PabloVestory]

Gracias por subirlo!

[mrdhikrbeads]

This song is so beautiful. I think the tenderness I feel for my wife has lent me some insight into what he was feeling for his wife, when she was ill. He wrote this when Nellie was in the hospital you know.

[theloniousmonk81]

I think, this is magic.

[jazzytrav8681]

@skullketon modal jazz is still tonal

[NewtHarvest]

@skullketon

"Modal" and "tonal" are not mutually exclusive. In fact, modality REQUIRES tonality. Check out Miles' KIND OF BLUE, which is the textbook example of modal jazz—it's so very tonal. 

[skullketon]

@NewtHarvest

Having made this comment over two years ago my opinions have changed. But to give you a proper answer, I believe at the time I was trying to say that Monk very much adhered to traditional major/minor tonality, no matter how much he loved to veer round its fringes with added tones, whole tone scales and omitted thirds. However, I am no Monk expert and it is very possible he could have dabbled in modal harmonies. Yet I maintain that Monk never had a long 'modal phase' like Miles.

[rbnlenin]

@skullketon

I don't see how a chord can be more or less abstract. A chord is something very concrete, a given set of tones which are to be played simultaneously. But I'd like to hear your opinion on the "abstract" nature of his chords. I'd rather say Monk's chords are quite complex since they use a lot of extensions and alterations.

A good example of abstract ideas in music is the Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization by George Russell.

But that's just me.

[skullketon]

@rbnlenin You're perfectly right, it was a very bad choice of words. As you say, his chords are complex: the extensions, altered/omitted chord tones, etc.; they're lots of fun, but I'm really just an amateur on the subject.

(Russell's theory is fascinating. THAT is "abstract", as such a radically different view of harmony.)

I'll remove my old comment so it doesn't cause any more confusion. I shouldn't have made claims that were both unclear and insupportable.

[rbnlenin]

@rbnlenin

I wouldn't say that I'm right or you're wrong, we're not talking mathematics here.

It's not really a bad choice of words since every chord is really an abstraction for all possible voicings of that chord. In that sense all chords are abstract.

Complex is also a bad description of his chords because of what you mentioned; omitted chord tones. A dominant 7th chord with omitted 3 and 5 is just two chord tones. I would hardly call that complex.

[rbnlenin]

@rbnlenin

There are some words that seem to describe his chords unambiguously. For example "beautiful".

[ohmphthschwrhu]

@rbnlenin from the harmonic series key of C, you can play the 3rd partial 'g',5th par. 'e', 7th par.bflat.,and believe it or not its a double tritone.some people train themselves to hear as many partials possible from one note.then integrate that skill into their harmony. this type person maybe playing for himself first the audience second.monk might have wolf ears! whats implied to you maybe clear to him.you dont know what hes playing till he explain it. he may say it doesnt matter.

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu Part 1:

The less notes you play the more can be implied from it in that specific instance, the context however leads the brain to fill in the blanks.

As Monk himself said: "I want it to be as easy as possible so people can dig it. And then, it should be good. A song is like that, it's easy." (Robin D.G. Kelley, Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, FreePress 2009)

[ohmphthschwrhu]

@rbnlenin exactly.but if i play c,octave c,g,c,e,g,bflat on the piano, im doing numerous things.ideally im playing one note, low c .physically im playing the first seven notes of the harmonic series.and im telling my brain that this is how much i have to forgive the western tuning system.implying the ideal ,the actual, and the entropy within the system.i get what monk is saying but its still the piano.sacrifice harmonic accuracy for virtual freedom=cultic art.picasso did this.

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu

Yes, of course a frequency analysis of a low c played on a piano would yield the first seven notes of the harmonic series. A note is implied if it is not directly played by the musician, so even though it's clear to Monk it's still implied (directly played = key pressed down). From a perspective of harmony it would seem to me that really any chord (played on a piano) containing a C for example could be implied by a C since they contain the frequencies of C played on the piano.

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu

Part 2:

Monk doesn't sacrifice harmonic accuracy as he does not tell us what is intended. Accuracy has no meaning if there is no known target :)

[ohmphthschwrhu]

@ohmphthschwrhu im saying cultic art is that part of culture which occurs frequent enough in your mind to make you pursue it,want it ,need it.picasso did this with the lines of the bull.i remember him explaing his facination with this .if theres a recording of monk explaining THIS i'd love to see/hear it.maybe he made some dissonant stuff as easy as possible to dig!what would this type dissonance sound like IDEALLY in tune with the harm. series?

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu

You're making no sense whatsoever. I read an old comment of yours: see Part 2

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu

Poorly made comments may come back haunt you, don't make a fool of yourself.

I say this not to be rude but rather to warn that others may not be as tolerant as I am.

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu Part 2:

The way I see it, Monk implies interesting harmonic ideas that the advanced ear can hear but even if you don't have that you'll dig it because of the simplicity. It's a bit like higher mathematics, simple equations but yet so difficult for the uninitiated.

Oh by the way, you can find the quote in the documentary Straight No Chaser. Also I would like to express my contempt for Youtube's commentary system, it's clearly not made for intelligent discussion.

[ohmphthschwrhu]

@rbnlenin i saw straight no chaser 20yrs ago.even if the advanced ear can hear it.its still dissonant against a hill of forgiveness because of tuning.we forgive wine for not tasting like juice.this is cultic effect.higher mathematics,complex and simple are fine in the mind but becomes so so flawed when brought into this world.unintitiated, unculterated yes!because what is raga?don't know.why is picasso painting like a first grader?dont know.can monk really play a piano???uninitiated.

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu

You may want to take a course in English or write while not intoxicated. By the way; raga literally means colour in Sanskrit.

Mathematics cannot be flawed since it requires proof and in fact mathematics only really exists in it's unambiguous written form. If it's ambiguous then it's not mathematics.

[ohmphthschwrhu]

@rbnlenin i have a book called 'harmonic experience' the auther dedicated this book to pandit pran nath,an indian raga player.just type in indian raga music on youtube and you'll see.it may mean colour but just type in indian raga music.mathematics in its unambiguos form is an ideal. when you apply it to this physical world .if you think its nonsense fine im not offended.if you are then thats you're at.also i was nt talking about monk i was talking about the equal tempered scale

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu

I do know what Raga-based music is, a raga is simply a mode. A scale upon which a melody is formed according to several other rules. It is also the basis for modal jazz.

There is no such thing as ambiguous mathematics, only poor mathematicians.

End of part 1.

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu

The equal tempered scale is not entirely accurate for every key I know, but tuning the instrument for every key may be a bit tedious and inflexible.

When analysing music one must be careful not to involve spirituality as a means of explanation. I'm going to take a look at that book, sounds interesting :)

[ohmphthschwrhu]

@rbnlenin look get this book and you'll get what im saying.the equal tempered scale is WAY! worse than you think.this book shows dydemic commas,pythagorean commas,the diesis comma,the diaschisma comma etc..its gives full examples throughout.it cost me $45 bucks u.s. .its too much to explain. its the best theory ever. absolutely worth it.

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu

I'll do it on one condition, that you write a bit more eloquent comments.

[ohmphthschwrhu]

@ohmphthschwrhu IMAGINE.god takes 2 poles and anchors them in space .he takes an infinite guitar string and ties it to the poles and pulls the string tight .he plucks the string and this world comes into existence.do you see the big bang/big crunch dynamic in this proverbial string?shall i call hydrogen my fundamental tone?helium my duplicator?carbon my triplicator etc.if what you believe makes you dogmatic fine but you can disbelieve it at anytime.especially if you're young.

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu

Why especially if you're young? Interesting creation myth there, I like that one where God creates the universe as a celestial quiche lorraine.

[ohmphthschwrhu]

@rbnlenin resilience..so what happens when you mix spirituality and jazz.

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu

Part 1:

I have no problem with mixing spirituality and jazz. What I do have a problem with though is non-objectiveness in the analysis of the music because otherwise it's not a scientific analysis. In my opinion musicology should strive to be a science (social science) and therefore not include subjective values in the analysis of music.

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu

Part 2:

Of course these subjective values cannot be completely eliminated but then that's why I wrote "strive to be". Spiritual and therefore subjective values have no place in music analysis unless it's regarded as a factor that is also analysed objectively (otherwise it would be difficult to analyse Coltrane's later works for example).

[ohmphthschwrhu]

@ohmphthschwrhu 30 notes available within 5 octaves.the more you deviate from this single series from a single string or node, the more entropy is added to the system and we haven't even gotten to common note ambiguiteis, comma caused ambiguities and a shitty(i love it cause i love art)tuning system YET, and im dealing with a roland phantom g6 compared to you fansy yamaha grand.stop being arrogant professor.'piratebay' the book.Up bubble now,hope i dont get the 'bends' whew! ;D;D

[rbnlenin]

@ohmphthschwrhu

It's 60 notes in 12 tone equal temperament system on 5 octaves actually. 12*5 = 60.

A short google-ing of the terms "common note ambiguity" (but I guess you're getting at enharmonics) and "comma caused ambiguity" leads to no relevant results, this could only be the case if those terms are rarely used in musicology or that are specific to that book of yours. Therefore it's not fair to assume that people will know those terms unless you express that you assume people have read it

[dannybighair]

ahahaha "is this modal"

this is beyond being classified

[Littlewhitelephant]

@justinomorales Is this modal ? No it's harmonic and symphonic with often playing two halftones like B&C together.

[Littlewhitelephant]

@justinomorales Is this modal ?

No it's harmonic and symphonic with often playing two halftones like B&C together.

[BuckshotLaFunke]

@justinomorales No, it's not modal. It's a bit blues-like.

[SuperBlackMoth]

@justinomorales holy fuck shoot yourself in the head

[Gnomitolindo]

@justinomorales whats that you said?

[futboler454]

oops! I meant to give it 5 stars