"Pianistically, I don't think has anything to worry about, but if he (Monk) gets that stride thing going a little faster, I don't know... Maybe will have to come back. Pianistically, he's beautiful. (A promoter I know uses that phrase; I guess he likes the way it rolls off his tongue.) But Thelonious is pianistically beautiful. He approaches the piano somehow from an angle, and it is the right angle. He does the thing completely and thoroughly... He hasn't been influenced through the traditional techniques because he hasn't worked through the keyboard composers and, therefore, has his own complete approach of musical thinking. He is such a thinking musician, and I think this is something a lot of people forget about Monk. They somehow feel he's eccentric, but Monk knows exactly what he's doing. Structurally, and musically, he's very aware of every note he plays."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Composers from the United StatesJazz musiciansPianists from the United StatesAfrican AmericansPeople from North Carolina
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk (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.
22 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Thelonious Monk →
Related Quotes
"The piano ain't got no wrong notes."
"I don't know where it's going. Maybe it's going to hell. You can't make anything go anywhere. It just happens."
": You liked the arrangement? Monk: Did you make the arrangement? It was crazy. Feather: No. Monk: It was a bunch of m…"
"Which is the way to the toilet?"
"It reminded me of , and that's got to be good. Rhythm section has the right groove, too. Drummer made me think of . H…"
"Interviewer: What other interests do you have? Monk: Life in general. Interviewer: What do you do about it? Monk: Kee…"
"All musicians are subconsciously mathematicians."
"I know this from somewhere—it seems as though every time I turn on the radio this seems to slip in; and I've always l…"
"Working with Monk brought me close to a musical architect of the highest order. I felt I learned from him in every wa…"
"Monk enters the studio and starts playing, the rest of the musicians join him. After few minutes of play the technici…"