Ben Franklin reported in his autobiography that he once spent the better part of a day sharpening an old ax, determined to return it to its original luster. He finally gave up, concluding that perhaps ...

This month we celebrate the birthday of one of the truly unique personalities in jazz: Thelonious Monk. Born on October 10, 1917, Monk created a style of improvisation and a repertoire of compositions ...

Some listeners operate under the misconception that pianist Thelonious Monk recorded his best work for producer Orrin Keepnews at Riverside Records, and the rest of his catalog is somehow considered a ...

A trumped-up drug conviction and draconian cabaret laws would rob Monk of his ability to perform in New York for several years following the Blue Note sessions. Greater exposure through associations ...

The greatest lost concert in American history almost never happened at all. It was Oct. 27, 1968, in Palo Alto, California. Outside of his high school, Danny Scher, a 16-year-old, bushy-haired, ...

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews two new interpretations of Monk's complete works: Monk's Dreams, by pianist Frank Kimbrough, and Work, by guitarist Miles Okazaki. This is FRESH AIR. Two new ...

Monk’s Dream Local sculptor Yoshitomo Saito’s new bronze installation, Bemsha Swing in Denver, refers to the Thelonious Monk composition “Bemsha Swing,” in a funny way: via his own mystification at ...

Years ago, screenwriter-producer Peter Lord Moreland watched Straight No Chaser, the landmark 1988 documentary on bebop pianist-composer Thelonious Monk. Thus began a near-obsessive fascination with ...

Today marks the centennial of the birth of pianist Thelonious Monk (1917-82), one of the most idiosyncratic stylists and influential composers in the annals of jazz. His staggering output includes ...

Thelonious Monk, the incomparably influential jazz composer and pianist, would have turned 100 today, and across the country a healthy range of commemorative tributes is already underway. But the ...