WEB EXCLUSIVE: Yoko Plays Monk
Thelonious Monk would have been 100 on 10/10/17. We’re celebrating with this exclusive performance recorded by Yoko this week just for you.
And be sure to check out this article in the famed Village Voice, which features Yoko’s thoughts on Monk, in the company of many other pianists:
18 Jazz Pianists Pay Tribute to Thelonious Monk on His 100th Birthday
6 Responses
Serene and beautiful.. Yoko san๏ผ
The Village Voice article says you are currently “residing in New York City” and yet your shows are all in Boston and you continue to teach at Berklee. You must be one tired lady!
: )
I love Monk, always have- always will.
I don’t know where they got that idea…but I am tired ๐ and love Monk as well.
Yes, we must! Every day!
This tune was one of my first introductions to Monk’s music on a Cannonball Adderley record from the early 1960s taken at a much quicker tempo so to make it almost a bop anthem. I had to come to terms with it much later when a piano teacher introduced it to me as a tune to play. The chromatic bridge was (and still is) a serious challenge to negotiate. When I hear it now, it just seems to be such a good example of what Monk meant when he said the inside of a tune should make the outside sound better. You bring out his dissonance so well and keep almost a stride propulsion going. Thanks for adding to the Monk stream.
Thank you for adding to the Monk stream also Scott! Thank you also for the words of encouragement ๐ Like a lot of the legends of that era, Monk left his legacy in the tunes he wrote.