The unexpected note seems to seperate every few bars into smaller jewels then the entire composition gets resolved into a complete piece., a crown jewel..add the other pieces and a running history seems to start taking place..what a great genre jazz is, even for a non musical soul like me..
I haven't listened to any Thelonious Monk recordings for a while. These are wonderful recordings. That's what jazz is all about: its incredible versatility. Thanks, Marc, for engaging with it every day. 👍
"'Round Midnight" always had an intro. As you correctly note, the intro Monk used in 1954 was the one Dizzy employed most famously to open the same song during his 1948 performance in Paris. Dizzy originally wrote and used the passage as a close-out to his rendition of "I Can't Get Started" in 1945.
The unexpected note seems to seperate every few bars into smaller jewels then the entire composition gets resolved into a complete piece., a crown jewel..add the other pieces and a running history seems to start taking place..what a great genre jazz is, even for a non musical soul like me..
I haven't listened to any Thelonious Monk recordings for a while. These are wonderful recordings. That's what jazz is all about: its incredible versatility. Thanks, Marc, for engaging with it every day. 👍
That intro to Round Midnight was written by Dizzy Gillespie. I didn't know Monk adopted it.
Hi Patrick.
"'Round Midnight" always had an intro. As you correctly note, the intro Monk used in 1954 was the one Dizzy employed most famously to open the same song during his 1948 performance in Paris. Dizzy originally wrote and used the passage as a close-out to his rendition of "I Can't Get Started" in 1945.
Here's Monk's original intro in 1944...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ5D9oyv6vw&list=RDJJ5D9oyv6vw&start_radio=1
Here's Dizzy's doodle at the end of "I Can't Get Started" in 1945...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=695scJ_VWfk
And here's Dizzy's Paris concert recording of "'Round Midnight" in 1948 with his 1945 passage to open it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN8Jm_59Mp0
Thanks for raising!
Marc
Beautiful prose, Marc. I felt like I was in Paris circa 1950s. Thank you.