Thelonious Himself | ||||
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Studio album by Thelonious Monk | ||||
Released | 1957 | |||
Recorded | April 5 and 16, 1957 New York City |
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Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 66:28 | |||
Label |
Riverside RLP 12-235 |
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Producer | Orrin Keepnews | |||
Thelonious Monk chronology | ||||
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Thelonious Himself is a studio album by Thelonious Monk released in 1957 via Riverside Records, his fourth for the label. The album is notable for featuring Monk on solo piano almost exclusively. The only non-solo performance on the album is the last track, "Monk's Mood", which features John Coltrane on tenor saxophone and Wilbur Ware on bass. (Monk had previously recorded a solo piano album in Paris during June 1954.)
The original CD reissue, released in 1987 via Original Jazz Classics/Riverside Records, includes an extensive 22-minute solo recording of "'Round Midnight" outtakes and experimentation in the studio. A subsequent reissue, the Keepnews Collection edition, released in 2008 via Riverside Records, omits this sequence in favor of outtakes and alternate versions of several other tracks from the album. In the liner notes, Keepnews states that including the original "'Round Midnight" outtake "would have required eliminating virtually every existing alternate take of other selections — five other examples of this pianist's improvisational genius."
Music critic Robert Christgau said Thelonious Himself is "probably [Monk's] best" solo album, while Down Beat magazine gave it five stars and called it "highly recommended". In All Music Guide (2001), jazz critic Scott Yanow gave the album four stars out of five and did not find it as important but still intriguing because "Monk's hesitant stride and thoughtful yet unpredictable flights are always a joy to hear".
Side One
Side Two