Vinyl Vault — Thelonious Monk Septet, “Monk’s Music”

Up next on the Vinyl Vault it’s Monk! Specifically, the Thelonious Monk Septet and the album “Monk’s Music” released in 1957 on Riverside Records.

The album featured two giants of the tenor saxophone: John Coltrane and Coleman Hawkins. Also on the album were Gigi Gryce on alto, Ray Copeland on trumpet, Art Blakey on drums and Wilbur Ware on bass.

The album contains several of Monk’s best-known compositions including “Well, You Needn’t,” “Ruby, My Dear,” “Off Minor” and “Epistropy.” Each one was given first-class treatment by this good-sized band and, of course, there was plenty of room for solos from members of the ensemble.

Interestingly, this was the first jazz recording issued by Riverside in stereo. It was a new technology at the time and the album was recorded simultaneously in both stereo and mono. The engineers accomplished this by placing two sets of microphones next to each band member, one for the stereo recording and one for the mono recording. The result was different sounds from the two versions because the microphones were placed slightly differently. For example, the bass sound in the stereo version is slightly more distant than the mono version. The Vinyl Vault’s copy is the stereo version, so you’ll hear instruments coming from different channels.

Join Geoff Anderson for “Monk’s Music” on the next Vinyl Vault, this Tuesday, November 21 at 8:30 pm on KUVO JAZZ.

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