Thelonious Monk - Don't Blame Me

Thelonious Monk, Straight No Chaser.
By Clint Eastwood.

• Category

  Music

[Tater Gumfries]

Boy's a little sloppy.

[DonCarlo4Broadway]

He's not sloppy. His notes are accurate and organized. Intentional in a way that doesn't follow the traditional standards of composing music. But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 

[StunnedByStupidity]

Its Les Dawson - sorry couldn't resist...

[DonCarlo4Broadway]

Really! Les Dawson was a buffoon. Which he was good at being. It's like comparing gold to lead.

[DUANESKEE]

Dude made playn off key sound beautiful.

[DonCarlo4Broadway]

At this point it doesn't sound off key anymore cause I'm so used to the sound, the notes actually make sense. As he tells his story he expresses tone and mood to the melodic words.

[jjr333]

Don't try to explain Monk to people that think he is playing "off key". If they can't hear it, they never will. It's like when someone asked Satchmo "What is jazz?" Satch just laughed and said " Man, if you have to ask, you'll never know."

[Michael Stingone]

Google won't let me share the link.  Its called "The Definitive Monk Bio: So, Was He Crazy, or What?"

[Michael Stingone]

I stand corrected. In fact after further research, it seems as if his symptoms were more indicative of bipolar disorder. Here's an interesting article that seems to refute this assumption, but the author is not a psychiatrist not does he seem to have any experience in the mental health field. Interesting hypothesis and speculations though.

[Cheuhba]

Monk was NEVER diagnosed with schizophrenia !! Some doc, after his death, did that diagnosis by reading about Monk, watching films, hearing talk about him... But no one ever made that diagnosis when he was alive. He was never treated or followed by anyone for his "problems".

[Michael Stingone]

yes, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but it wasn't really a "severe" case. Anyone who has schizophrenia and functions in the world, i.e. is able to get up out of bed, converse with people, work, have significant relationships, etc. cannot considered to have a "severe" case. He had acute episodes, which is common for any mental illness, but also was relatively high functioning a significant amount of time, at least as far as musicians go...

[Michael Stingone]

he's not really playing "off key" as you describe it. i see where you're coming from though. he plays a lot of minor 2nds (aka semitones, i.e. C, Db). gives that kind of "out of tune piano effect", which is what the man was probably hearing in his head. in any case, agreed, beautiful!

[erik rodriguez]

That was fucking awesome



[thelbronius]

Well it appears that you are down, so I will kick you. There's 2 kind of people, people that hear Monk and those that don't. Life isn't always pretty and ordered, Monk's music illustrates that. His music pushes back the boundaries of traditional harmony. At least you gave it a shot, maybe one day you will come around and hear him.

[doko73]

tater,you have a lot to learn. are your ears alright? are you just a bigot? Everyone has a right to their opinion, unfortunately, some are smaller than others. And he is a MAN..........This MAN was a PIONEER, YA DAM FOOL.

[Sir Juandabicho]

Muchas gracias por compartirlo.