JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2467
THELONIOUS MONK BORN 100 YEARS AGO
Rocky Mount, North Carolina (JFK+50) One hundred years ago, October 10, 1917, Thelonious Monk*, American jazz pianist and composer, was born here in Rocky Mount.
His family moved to Manhattan in 1922 & Thelonious started playing piano at the age of six. He attended Stuyvesant High School. In the 1940s, Monk was house pianist at Minton's Playhouse** where he developed his unique improvisational style sometimes described as "hard swinging."
Theolonious Monk's most famous jazz tunes include "Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", and "Straight, No Chaser." Monk is the second most recorded jazz composer (first is Duke Ellington).
In 1963, Monk recorded "Miles and Monk at Newport".
*Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917-1982) began studying classical piano at age 11. He is one of the first creators of modern jazz. In 1964, TSM became one of four jazz musicians to make the cover of Time Magazine.
**Minton's Playhouse, located in the Cecil Hotel in Harlem, was founded in 1938 by saxophonist Henry Minton.
SOURCES
"Minton's Playhouse", www.mintonsharlem.com/
"Thelonious Monk", Biography, www.biography.com/
THELONIOUS MONK BORN 100 YEARS AGO
Rocky Mount, North Carolina (JFK+50) One hundred years ago, October 10, 1917, Thelonious Monk*, American jazz pianist and composer, was born here in Rocky Mount.
His family moved to Manhattan in 1922 & Thelonious started playing piano at the age of six. He attended Stuyvesant High School. In the 1940s, Monk was house pianist at Minton's Playhouse** where he developed his unique improvisational style sometimes described as "hard swinging."
Theolonious Monk's most famous jazz tunes include "Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", and "Straight, No Chaser." Monk is the second most recorded jazz composer (first is Duke Ellington).
In 1963, Monk recorded "Miles and Monk at Newport".
*Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917-1982) began studying classical piano at age 11. He is one of the first creators of modern jazz. In 1964, TSM became one of four jazz musicians to make the cover of Time Magazine.
**Minton's Playhouse, located in the Cecil Hotel in Harlem, was founded in 1938 by saxophonist Henry Minton.
SOURCES
"Minton's Playhouse", www.mintonsharlem.com/
"Thelonious Monk", Biography, www.biography.com/
Thelonious Monk
Minton's Playhouse
September 1947
Photo by William P. Gottlieb
Library of Congress Image
