'Round Midnight (song)

"'Round Midnight"
Song by Thelonious Monk
Published	1944
Genre	Bebop
Composer(s)	Thelonious Monk

"'Round Midnight" (sometimes "'Round About Midnight") is a 1944 jazz standard by pianist Thelonious Monk. A version recorded by Monk's quintet was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1993. It is the most recorded jazz standard composed by a jazz musician.

It is thought that Monk originally composed the song sometime in 1940 or 1941. However, Harry Colomby claims that Monk may have written an early version around 1936 (at the age of 19) with the title "Grand Finale". Monk first recorded the song on the 1947 Blue Note album Genius of Modern Music: Volume 1, and recorded it several times after that. His first version was transcribed by Lionel Grigson in A Thelonious Monk Study Album (Novello, 1993).

$\relative c' { << \new ChordNames { \set chordChanges = ##t \chordmode { ees4 ees/d ees2/des | c:dim7 aes4:min9 des:7 | c1:m7.5- | b4:m7 e:7 bes:m7 ees:7 } } \new Staff { \tempo "Ballad" \key ees \major \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 60 r4 bes16 ees f bes ges4. bes,8 | ees ees4. bes'4 aes | r ees16 ges bes des c4. ees,8 | a4 aes aes g | } >> }$

Jazz artists Cootie Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Pepper, and Miles Davis have further embellished the song, with songwriter Bernie Hanighen adding lyrics. Both Williams and Hanighen have received co-credits for their contributions.

The song is also called "'Round About Midnight", as Miles Davis used this title for his Columbia Records album 'Round About Midnight (1957) that included a cover based on Dizzy Gillespie's interpretation. It became a signature song for Davis; his performance of it with Monk at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival may have gotten him a record deal at Columbia Records. He recorded the song in the studio two other times, once for Prestige in 1953 and again in 1956 as released on Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants.

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