Thelonious Monk Quartet

Thelonious Monk
Monk at Minton's Playhouse, New York, 1947
Background information
Birth name	Thelonious Sphere Monk
Born	(1917-10-10)October 10, 1917 Rocky Mount, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	February 17, 1982(1982-02-17) (aged 64) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, cool jazz, bebop, hard bop
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1940s–1973
Labels	Blue Note, Prestige, Riverside, Columbia
Associated acts	Milt Jackson, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Oscar Pettiford, John Coltrane, Art Blakey
Website	monkzone.com

Thelonious Sphere Monk (/θəˈloʊniəs/, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight," "Blue Monk," "Straight, No Chaser," "Ruby, My Dear," "In Walked Bud," and "Well, You Needn't." Monk is the second most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed more than a thousand pieces, whereas Monk wrote about 70.

His compositions and improvisations feature dissonances and angular melodic twists and are consistent with his unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of switched key releases, silences, and hesitations.

Monk was renowned for his distinctive style in suits, hats, and sunglasses. He was also noted for an idiosyncratic habit observed at times during performances: While the other musicians in the band continued playing, he would stop, stand up from the keyboard, and dance for a few moments before returning to the piano.

Monk is one of five jazz musicians to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine, after Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, and Duke Ellington and before Wynton Marsalis.