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Thelonious Monk recorded for Prestige in between stints with Blue Note & Riverside. Working with greats like Sonny Rollins & Miles Davis, Monk tackles, for the most part, tunes penned by other writers. The Blue Note stuff is special because they are some of Monk's earliest recordings; the Riverside because they are comprised of some of Monk's best recordings, from what is arguably his most creative period.The "odd man out" in Monk's catalogue are the Prestige recordings. There are only 3 discs to this often-downplayed period in Monk's career, but the recordings are - like most everything Monk did - excellent. Only 15 originals are in this set, but that's part of the Prestige material's charm.24-bit remastering and neat packaging with excellent liner notes, this is an excellent companion to the Blue Note, Riverside & London material. If you're a big Monk fan, these discs belong in your collection.
Anyone curious about Thelonious Monk would be very interested in aquiring this 1952-1954 Prestige box set. It is by far one of the best representations of his piano playing than any other box set. For one thing, this is his complete recordings for Prestige already put together and digitally remastered with great new liner notes about the recording sessions for each album. I have never been this happy and pleased with a box set since I bought Bill Evans - "The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961."Like many of the reviewers have stated already, Monk absolutely rips the keys apart on many of these tunes. Everything here is simply ear candy.Here are all the musicans that appear on this box set: Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, Frank Foster (tenor saxophone); Miles Davis, Ray Copeland (trumpet);Julius Watkins (French horn); Milt Jackson (vibraphone); Gary Mapp, Tommy Potter, Edward "Bass" Robinson, Curly Russell (bass); and Art Taylor, Denzil Best, Kenny Clarke, Willie Jones, Max Roach (drums).Instead of buying these records individually, I would recommend going ahead and putting the money toward this set. I would also recommend this box set to anyone interested in hearing one of the true innovators of jazz.This set also contains the only other version of one of my favorite Monk compositions "Locomotive," which also appears years later on his Columbia album "Straight, No Chaser." If you like smoking piano jazz, then buy this today.
The reason I bought this 3 CD-set in the first place was for CD 3, because it combines the Monk tracks from the "Bag's Groove" and "Miles Davis and the Jazz Giants" CDs, thus presenting on one CD that famous Christmas Eve recording session.but all three CDs are great.the 22 bit remastering is flawless. Miles and Monk both sound great (though Monk lays out when Miles plays.that's OK) and then you get the great MILT JACKSON on vibes on every track of CD 3. Sure I won't play everything on the first two CDs.that is, the first four tracks on CD one are interesting in that they present Monk's first recording session with Coleman Hawkins, but those tracks are only worth listening to once.the remainder of CD one is SUPER GREAT.and similarly on CD two, the MONK material is BRILLIANT, but I'll tend to skip a few of the Sonny Rollins tracks.and ALL of CD 3 is fantastic. Bag's Groove (both versions 1 & 2) may be my favorite jazz tracks of all time. Milt Jackson is SUPER COOL on CD 3. I tell ya, once I discovered Thelonious Monk, no one else comes close to his quirky genius.
They're a little easier on new ears. If you want to hear Monk's best songs, get "Genius of Modern Music".
There's some priceless footage of Monk live in there and it shows you that not only is he playing the music, he's playing *with* the music. The Prestige recordings were made after Monk was able to regain his cabaret card in the early 50's.
Although I had a few of his cd's, I never "got" Monk until I saw the Ken Burns jazz film. It sounds like he's trying to make up for lost time.
He had been unable to play live for several years prior. You can hear Monk busting loose on these tracks, I have yet to hear Monk play with more intensity than he does here.
If you are new to Monk and his distinctive playings style, try one of the Columbia recordings like "Straight No Chaser". But if you want to hear Monk the pianist in take-no-prisoners mode, look no further than this beautiful package.
Another weakness, is that the CD's are packagedas 3 distinct, separate jewel case, taking upa lot of space, when a small, triple CD jewelcase could have held all 3 of the CD's.The strong points, is the excellent sound, excellentcompositions, excellent performances, excellentartistic and performance value in the perspectiveof the listener, and all this, coming from a momentwhen little money, mass media attention, or publicrecognition was given to Monk, jazz, label ownersor even, to the importance of recording technology,in the studio, back in 1948 or 1950.All in all, great music.a keeper. The only weakness in this release, is the factthat on the third CD (with Miles Davis, alsoelsewhere available as Bag's Groove) there'smidway a lot of background noise mixed in withthe musicians and instruments, coming from thetape recording machine itself, which is veryannoying. For some reason, in the first half ofthe third CD, it doesn't come across almost atall, until it becomes annoying, as I said, in thefinal half of the third CD. The artwork andcommentary, is a bonus, also. Very nice.
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