Songbooking

There is no shortage of jazz albums where musicians play the compositions of Thelonious Monk, whose tunes are among the most recognizable and complex in the bebop cannon. But the three-CD box called Monk's Casino is altogether something else. Pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach was joined by Die Enttäuschung--a phenomenal German quartet featuring trumpeter Axel Dörner and jiggly-legged bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall that's recorded plenty of Monk tunes on its own over the years--to record a version of every single known composition of Monk (over 70 of them). I was lucky enough to see this band perform the entire project live at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 2002, where droll humor and dynamic arrangements helped to make it clear that this was no stodgy repertoire ensemble. While various members take concise solos here and there, the ultimate aim of Monk's Casino is to put the spotlight on the tunes qua tunes. Obviously Monk's oeuvre works brilliantly as a fleet of improvisational vehicles, but part of the reason they bring us so much pleasure in that context is how we can constantly refer to the jagged, indelible melodies, no matter how far out a soloist goes. In this project the occasional solos enhance the snappy readings of the compositions, rather than the other way around.

Green Chimneys/Little Rootie Tootie

Buy it here.

Comments

[al jones]

how much is this set? I reviewed Schlipp's Night and Day set at www.bagatellen.com last year and have since been wary of multiple cd sets of his. Loved it at first, but then it wore on me.

[AK]

According to the link to Squidco, they sell it at $34.95. Neither Dusty Groove nor
Forced Exposure had it listed.