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Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk is nothing short of an individual. He stood out from the jazz

scene, laying undiscovered for nearly twenty years. Although he helped father bebop in the

1940s, his music was not popular until the genre he created died off. Thelonious Monk as a

musician remained constant; mysterious and strange, influencing jazz music behind the curtains

in clubs and underground jam sessions. What is mostly admirable about Monk is how he only

catered to himself, he never wrote music for the audience, but contrarily he found audiences for

his music. Through his life his music changes, influenced by society and his friends, family and

the dramatic changes in society of the mid-20th century. Despite the great depression, World War

II, and racial tensions, Monk was able to find music that he loved and composed to satisfy

himself. Even though struggled financially and psychologically for nearly twenty years as a poor

and troubled musician, he was able to sustain a style through three different jazz genres: the

swing-era, bebop and free jazz; two of which he helped create.

Thelonious Monks birth is just one of the many mysteries that surrounded Monk.

Throughout the majority of his career, the year of Monks birth was never verified until 1974

when Leonard Feather found Monks birth certificate stating 1917. Up until Feathers findings,

Monks birth was believed to be in 1920. Monk spent the first six years of his life in Rocky

Mount, North Carolina. From which him and his family traveled to New York. This transition is

arguably one Monks most critical points in his life as a musician. New York of the time was one

of the biggest cultural and artistic scenes in the nation.1 While in New York, more specifically

San Juan Hills, Monk began to pick up music. Starting on trumpet and then transitioning to

1 Fitterling, Thomas. Thelonious Monk, His Life and Music. Translated by Robert
Dobbin (California, Berkley Hills Books, 1997), 19-21.

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piano, Monk took lessons from a friend of the family. Monk, being naturally gifted at the piano,

quickly became a local star.

Monks career really began at the age of fourteen where started playing piano in parties

around his neighborhood. During Monks early teenage years, he was deeply influenced by some

of the most popular jazz musicians of the time such as Duke Ellington, James P. Johnson and Art

Tatum. Inspired by them, Monk took his first step into being a professional musician. At the age

of 16, after dropping out of high school, Monk joined a small evangelical band and traveled

across the country for two years. Although there is no record of what the group played, Monk

recalls it as a type of rock n roll, or rhythm and blues. 2 After the tour, Monk returned to New

York where he took a gig as house pianist for Mintons Playhouse, a club in Harlem. Mintons

Playhouse later becomes a key part in developing bebop. During this time, Monk began to

compose his own music. Some of his most famous works such as Round Midnight and

Straight, No Chaser were composed during his time at Mintons Playhouse.3

During his time at Mintons Playhouse, Monk played with soon to be jazz legends

Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. However, unlike Parker and Gillespie, Monk was unable to

transition to national fame. Mintons Playhouse became the place where bebop was created.

Monk, Gillespie, and Parker silently were developing the most popular genre for the next ten

years. Gillespie and Parker fed off this new wave of jazz music. Monk however, helping create

bebop, was not interested in the style as much as he was with his own distinct sound that was

more based on the jagged harmonies of bebop and less on the melodic lines that Gillespie and

2 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 23.

3 Solis, Gabriel, Monks Music: Thelonious Monk and Jazz History in the Making.
(California, University of California Press, 2008), 22.

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Parker loved. While Gillespie and Parker started taking off, Monk was sporadically taking work

around Harlem between 1941 and 1947. Some jobs were still at Mintons Playhouse; however,

the club was losing popularity do an entertainment tax placed on live music to help support the

war. However, in 1944 Monk was able to earn a short streak of employment with the Coleman

Hawkins Band. Hawkins was the first person to give Thelonious Monk his first official

recordings on Hawkins album Bean and the Boys. However, Monk was unable to be a consistent

member of the group.4

Finally, in 1947, Monk was able to land a label with Blue Note. Blue Note allowed Monk

to record his first album: Genius of Modern Music. The entire album was all original

compositions by Monk. This album showcases Monks dense counterpoint and incredible

improvisatory skills. The album was not reviewed lightly however. Down Beat magazine

reviewed the song Misterioso as Two sides by a pianist who did NOT invent bop, and

generally plays bad, but interesting piano.5 The owner of Blue Note Records, Alfred Lion,

reported that white listeners thought Monk lacked technique.6 Following the release of Genius of

Modern Music, Monk was arrested for the possession of Heroin. He spent sixty days in jail and

lost his New York City work permit, prohibiting him to perform in New York until 1957, nearly

ten years after his offense. Shortly following his arrest in 1949, Monks contract with Blue Note

expired and without much hesitation from either Monk or Blue Note, the contract was not

renewed. Instead Monk happily signed on with Prestige Labels.7

4 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 34-36.

5 Solis, Monks Music. 23

6 Benjamin Givan, "Thelonious Monk's Pianism." The Journal of Musicology 26,

no. 3 (2009): 404-442.

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The year 1954 was one of Monks most active time in his career so far. Both his life in

music and his home life dramatically changed. At the time Prestige also had the legendary Miles

Davis under contract. Through Prestige, Monk was invited to play with Miles and his band on

recording Bags Groove (1954), one of Monks best recordings. The song is iconic for its use

of traditional blues style with a modern dialogue style.8 The story behind the song was just as

famous as the recording itself; all the jazz giants bickering over the style is partly the fame of the

song.9 What also made Prestige so influential on Monk was how relaxed they were on their

employees. Monk had ample time to spend with his newly born son and daughter, as well as hold

house concerts where he would showcase his skills as a pianist and composer to his friends and

colleagues. Monk was also able to travel to France where he put on a concert with French music

idol, Claude Luter. While the concert was a failure, The French jazz scene praised him by writing

articles and features and even jazz label Swing gave him his own solo recording. Although being

contracted by Prestige helped Monk find work more than before, he and his family were still

financially unstable. Likely due to Monks drug and alcohol consumption. Furthermore, Monks

mother, Barbara Monk, passed away in 1954 sending Monk into a deep depression.10

After a dispute with Prestige over money, Monk left and landed in the hands of the newly

founded label Riverside. While Monks participation in groups playing standards is what made

him famous, his own compositions took more than fifteen years to gain ground. After the death

7 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 46.

8 Gabriel Solis,Hearing Monk: History, Memory, and the Making of a Jazz Giant. ,
Musical Quartely, 86 no. 1 (1986): 82-116

9 Solis, Monks Music. 40.

10 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 50-52.

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of Charlie Parker in 1955, original bebop phased out making new space for a new style of jazz

where earthy tones and rhythms that displayed little emotion became the new fad.11 Riverside

was very fortunate to employ Monk just before his own music had a breakthrough. His first

album to receive decent feedback was The Unique Thelonious Monk. However not entirely

Monks own compositions, it also included Monks arrangement of jazz standards that

showcased Monks style.12

Finally, after nearly twenty years in the professional jazz scene, Monk was reaching the

fame he deserved. He even created a quartet with Wilbur Ware, Shadow Wilson and the young

John Coltrane in 1957. The quartet, led by Monk, played together for nearly five months in a

packed jazz club named The Jazz Spot. When Coltrane pursued his own path, Johnny Griffon

(and later Charlie Rouse) replaced him on saxophone. The new star was almost thrown into the

large fame too quickly. Media outlets were contacting him for interviews, which Monk was

never pleased to do. His First TV show appearance in 1955 with Steve Allen on the Tonight

Show with Steve Allen ended poorly due to Monks unwillingness to make small talk.13 However

some journalists were able to get insightful responses from Monk, some of which are of his

greatest quotes. Along with them was media giant CBS who invited Monk to tape a TV show

titled The Sound of Jazz. This taping however is unlike any other. Other jazz greats such as Billie

Holiday, Count Basie, and Lester Young also appeared on program. On the recording, Count

11 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 57-59.

12 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 60-61.

13 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 60-61.

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Basie is clearly intrigued and amused by Monks style, which was drastically different than the

other performers.14

Riverside and Monk happily worked together for nearly six years. Fortunately for

Riverside, the Monk Boom spread across the nation and started to spread internationally was

over these six years. However, CBS recognized Monks quickly rising fame and offered him a

deal he could not refuse. In 1961, Monk left Riverside and joined CBS under the record

company: Columbia. Riverside claimed the rights to Monks live performances that were

recorded and generously allowed Monk to leave their employment. The quartet, who followed

Monk to CBS, started playing internationally and eventually was famous even outside the jazz

scene. In February 1964, Time Magazine published a cover story on Monk. Musically, the quartet

was playing around the world, mainly in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. His compositions also

traveled across world where musicians would perform them at clubs and on albums.15

Just as Monks fame emerged so fast, it also disappeared with the same volatile style. In

1969, CBS and Monk mutually agreed to leave Columbia. The rise of The Beatles and new age

of jazz started to overtake Monks music16. However, Monk style still remained unique. Between

the years 1969 and 1976 his quartet became unstable. The rhythm section constantly kept

changing personnel and eventually Charlie Rousey also left. In 1976, Monk gave his last concert

at Carnegie Hall. Unfortunately between 1976 and his death in 1982, Monk never returned to the

Jazz scene; never made an appearance and never played piano.17

14 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 67-70.

15 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 79-82.

16 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 83.

17 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 93-94.

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While Monks style is recognizably his own, his music is and was subject to change

throughout his career. From his early beginnings with Round Midnight written in 1941, to

Locomotive in 1954, to one of his last compositions written in 1968: Raise Four. Monks

harmonies progressively get more complex, always staying just slightly ahead of the leading

musicians of the time. While his melodies become less detailed and more implied. His style

percussive and harsh playing lead the way for bebop.18 In bebop, where motives are more

implied and the music is more focused on harmonies, the block chords in Monks music imply a

more vertical style of music. For Monk, these harmonies become more and more dissonant as his

career continues. However, the biggest change in Monks music across his life is how he

experiments with motives, reusing them, repeating them, and varying them. They become less

prominent and detailed, more implied. Monks compositions focus more on improvisation and

capturing a mood, one that could change at any time, to portray an atmosphere.

Round Midnight was one of Monks first compositions. Written in a time when Big

Band Jazz was rampant and a young Thelonious Monk was just getting his first major gig at

Mintons Playhouse alongside Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.19 The song opens with a piano

introduction with a motive that becomes the main motive in the piece. In musical example 1, the

first eight bars are shown of Round Midnight where the main motive is shown along with

chord symbols. Monk often would improvise melodies; live performances of the piece could be

drastically different. Most of Monks pieces are mostly improvisations, writing only the

minimum needed to set the mood of the piece. However, Round Midnight has some of the

more detailed lines that Monk has written. Along with the earlier pieces, Round Midnight is a

18 Givan, Monks Pianism. 406.

19 Solis, Monks Music. 22.

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transition between swing-era jazz and early bebop where the harmonies are becoming more

prominent and the melodies start to become more improvised and less detailed.20 The main

motive, seen in the first two bars, really allows Monk to reharmonize the motive in a variety of

ways. The motive itself seems to tonicize G minor by leading up to the Bb and leaping a minor

third down to the G dotted quarter note. However, the end of the motive, beat three of bar two,

suggests Ab minor by have a two-one suspension over the Ab chord giving a major sound. Monk

allows himself to have the freedom with the motive by transposing the melody in a few different

ways. The second time the melody returns in bar three, Monk has moved the entire motive up a

fourth to Eb, while varying the sixteenth note run interval. The contour and rhythm of the motive

is still intact and will act as a variation to the original motive. This time however, instead of

leaping a minor like in bar one, the motive moves down by halfstep to create second within the

chord. After a brief chromatic descent in bar three to lead us to a new key center, the motive is

transposed up another fourth from Eb to Ab and is not complete. The motive restarts once again

in bar five and this time is inverted before leading into the first ending. The ending of the

motives, the eighth note suspension in bar two tricks the listener into thinking that the piece will

be centered in major when two bars the chromatic descent resets us to minor key. The illusion of

the first eight bars drive comes from the transposition of the motives and then using

chromaticism to descend back to the home key. The first eight bars truly act as an introduction to

not only the mood of the piece but also the harmonic progression that Monk and members of the

group will improvise over.

20 Martin Williams, What Kind of Composer Was Thelonious Monk, The Musical
Quarterly 76, no.3 (1992), 433-441.

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Musical Example 1: Thelonious Monk. Round Midnight: measures 1-8

The harmonies of the example are what really gives the color of the music. While the

right hand would be playing the motive seen above, the left hands block chord also plays a part

as a counter melody to the motive. The first four chords seen in bar one and the down beat of bar

two descend chromatically, hinting towards the right chromatically descending back to the key

center in bar four. However, on the first beat of the music, Monk opens the piece with a five-one

interval (Bb-Eb) setting the chord but quickly changes the key by tonicizing G minor over a Db

chord. The left playing the chromatic descent is almost acting as if the piece started four bars

before and the listener began on a transition back to the original motive. This is reinforced when

considering Monk would have improvised the beginning of the song himself before the

saxophonist would enter on the piece. None the less, the chromatic descent in the left hand

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provides instability and pushes the listeners ear to the next bar. Proceeding into bar two, Monk

hints towards the key being Ab by adding a suspension over an Ab7 chord but then immediately

switches to a Db7-b9 that acts as tonic when leaving from Ab. When the motive returns

transposed, Monk keeps a similar harmony under it, this time without the chromatic descent

finally giving the piece some kind of stability. Following harmony into bar five, we hear what we

expect, a chromatic line in the right hand and a chromatic line that leaps between a fifth (B-E and

Bb-Eb). Monk than goes into a fifth pattern with Ab in bar six followed by Db and then Eb

followed by Ab. The first ending actually sets up the tonic Bb through more fifths starting on C-

half diminished to F-diminished and then followed by Bb minor. The first eight bars of Round

Midnight use alterations between fifths to tonicize keys and chromatic descents to give Monk

freedom to vary the melody and the harmony through improvisation.

While Round Midnight is more of a fusion between early bebop and swing-era jazz.

His later piece Locomotive, written in 1954 start to show how his musics motive use and

harmonies begin to change. In 1956, Monk was just beginning to enter into fame. His recording

with Miles Davis on Bags Groove in 1954. Monk was frequently composing and playing at

The Five Spot with his quartet.21 After Charlie Parkers death in 1955, bebop seemed to die off as

well and paved way for more complex music; music that Monk has been composing and

performing for years. Monks music really focused on improvisation over a given theme., known

as motivic elaboration.22 While bebop was experimenting and working with the same idea,

Monks music was entirely focused on this. In musical example 2, Locomotive is using the

same motive through the whole piece nonstop, like a moving locomotive. While the piece does

21 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 67-70.

22 Solis, Hearing Monk, 89-90

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not necessarily come alive through his harmonic progression that cycles a third between Eb and

C, later Eb and Bb, only to cadence every four bars, it does come alive through the improvisation

performed by Monk or other performers. The piece is not meant to be performed straight

through, lasting for a very short time. Each section A, A1, A2, B, and A3 are meant to be sat on

and played with until the band leader gives the sign to move on to the next section. Each section,

played like a refrain, only sets the key and mood for the next improviser.23

Thelonious Monk, Locomotive: B section, measure 20-28.

In this specific Music example, the four bar phrases are identical excluding the eighth

bar the sets up for the final section. The motive played repeatedly, is sped up over the four bars to

give the music direction and a sense of arrival on bar four where, just like Round Midnight, a

chromatic descent is used to push the listener to the next section. For Monk, these simple

motives allowed monk to weave in out of tonality with his solos, pushing the boundaries of

harmony but always returning the motive to remind us where we were in the song by making

clear cadences lead into new sections.24 These improvisations would span octaves across the

23 Williams, What Kind of Composer, 437

24 Solis, Monks Music. 28.

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piano in virtuosic rhythms that would show case monks percussive style by harshly hitting the

keys.25 The repetition in Locomotive is not marked with slurs or phrase markings, similarly,

neither is Round Midnight in example 1. When studying Monks compositions there are rarely

phrase markings written in, and when they are depicted, it is usually in harsh contrast with a

more rhythmic section.

Monks middle period really focused on improvisation, more so than conventional bebop artists.

Monk wrote motives to really provide a point to add variance. He did not just aim to embellish or

ornament the motives but to rather build off them, abstract them and use them as a transport to

new, fresh ideas.26 This is what made Monks live performances so unique, the improvised

melodies would change the entire piece and make them seem new to even a fan of Monk. This is

also why analyzing Monks style and consistencies are so difficult.27 His wide variety of

improvisations would make it hard to narrow down his compositions, especially since most of

his work was taught by ear.28

One of Monks final compositions was Raise Four, first recorded in 1968. This was recorded

shortly before Monk left Columbia Records and ultimately the decline of his career. Raise

Four is a perfect example of Monks style. During this time in his life, Monk was thinking

inwardly about his own style and Raise Four really incorporates Monk from all points in his

life, using ideas and gestures that showcase the Monk style. Example number three is the entire

score of Raise Four. Typically for piano, bass and drums, Monk was the sole provider for

25 Givan, Monks Pianism. 428-429

26 Williams, What Kind of Composer. 435-436

27 Givan, Monks Pianism. 434

28 Fitterling, Thelonious Monk. 62-63

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chording and melody through improvisation, given that the bass player would only play roots of

chords. Both the harmonies and the motives that inspire improvisation as well as the style used

ae all characteristics of Monk.

The motives, like example 2 Locomotive are simple and provide a lot of room for

variance and embellishment. However, the left hand sticks to a standard blues progression while

the right hand plays an extremely dissonant motive over it almost pushing towards polytonality.

While the left plays a blues progression, typical of early Monk, in the key of Ab, the right hand is

playing outlines of chords, mostly of E major. The harmonies block chords that would

accompany both hands switch between Bb7 and Eb7 which highly clashes with Monks right

hand motive that repeatedly plays B naturals and E naturals. The right motive only adds Eb when

over a F7 chord in measure nine to create a flat seven dissonance. The Eb in measure nine seems

odd considering Monk had no problem having the harmonies a half step apart from the motives,

but chose to add a clearer depiction of tonality in this bar. This kind of motivic variance that

gives the performer freedom to play improvising lines is typical of 1950s-1970s Monk. Monk

really began to experiment with less detailed lines and more improvised melodies when under

the Blue Note label. What makes this characteristic of late Monk is the improvisation itself.

Along with the example below a recording from Monk Raise Four from the album

Underground. The improvisation of the motive starts just after two sets of the chorus, after which

Monk goes on improvising over the motive. For the first few bars, the improvisation resembles

the motive but quickly becomes abstracted. As the solo continues on, Monk actually starts to

unify the left and right and the solo actually seems to be a resolution of the clashing in the actual

chorus. Monk really plays off the blues progression while only using the motive for new ideas

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for rhythm and contour. The improvised melody seems to quickly leave the high dissonance of

the chorus but then slowly slip back into as the improvisation continues on.

Example 3: Thelonious Monk, Raise Four https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK-

xh6bqR7A

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The written harmonies are similar to Monks Locomotive as seen in example 2. Monk

is using less key changes when compared to example 1: Round Midnight. While Round

Midnight used a lot of chromaticism to pass through a variety of keys, Raise Four uses keys,

suggested by the title, related by fourths/fifths. The three different harmonies going on at once

between the block chords, the blues progression in the left hand and the motive in the right hand

create this dense harmony that has clashing seconds and halfsteps. Adding an improvised melody

that weaves in and out of the harmonies starts to showcase Monks understanding of the chords

and the aesthetics he wanted from the notes.

On paper, Monks music seems to get simpler, less written melodies and repeated keys.

However, Monk already a master improviser, started really recreating his pieces in every

performance. Studying Monk becomes less of an analytical task and more of a listening task.

Understanding how he changes the melody in different recordings. It is slightly ironic how Monk

helps create a genre of music, bebop that focuses less on horizontal phrases and more on

harmonies and then as his life progresses begins to build on these complex harmonies through

long improvised melodies that seem to reminisce swing-era jazz before the rise of bebop.

However, this evolution of Monks music is still to his style. Monk was consistent and remained

Monk for thirty years. He was known for his impeccable time and his ability to keep a groove

even when playing pieces like Round Midnight for over twenty years.29 His music, no matter

from what decade, is recognizable due to his harsh and earthy piano articulations along with its

dense dissonant chords.

Thelonious Monk was an artist who deserved more fame than he received. Monk waited

almost twenty years as a professional jazz pianist before becoming one of the most popular jazz

29 Solis, Hearing Monk, 89-90

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musicians of the century. He was regarded as incompetent, strange, and even immature.

However, it is clear to see that Monk was ahead of his time. Fathering bebop, he chose not to

cater the publics need for the genre, he only wrote for himself. What makes Monks style so

unique is that it never changed throughout his career. Even though he lived through three major

jazz genres, two of which he helped create, he wrote music for only himself. Thelonious Monks

music mirrored that of his life, a mysterious man who continually experimented and pushed jazz

music to new limits attempting to fulfill the sounds that filled his head. Pioneering bebop and

free jazz, Monks music is iconic and known throughout the jazz world; his compositions are

what guided jazz to be what it is today. During his time, Monk was seen as an experimenter, a

raw but inventive musician who only catered to the musically inclined. However, today he is

seen as a pioneer, a social outcast, and above all a musical genius.

Word Count: 4442

Bibliography

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Fitterling, Thomas. Thelonious Monk, His Life and Music. Translated by Robert

(California, Berkley Hills Books, 1997), 19-21.

Givan, Benjamin. "Thelonious Monk's Pianism." The Journal of Musicology 26, no. 3 (2009):

404-442

Solis, Gabriel, Hearing Monk: History, Memory, and the Making of a Jazz Giant. , Musical

Quartely, 86 no. 1 (1986): 82-116

Solis, Gabriel, Monks Music: Thelonious Monk and Jazz History in the Making. (California,

University of California Press, 2008), 22.

Williams, Martin. What Kind of Composer Was Thelonious Monk. The Musical Quarterly 76,

no.3 (1992), 433-441.

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