Crepuscule

 . . . without Nellie

(from Thelonious Monk:  The Life and Times of An American Original by Robin D.G. Kelley)
". . . The Smith family was ecstatic over the news.  Sonny's best friend was now his brother-in-law and the kids had known their uncle Thelonious since they were born.  The Monks welcomed Nellie into the family, though Marion could hardly hide her disappointment that things never worked out between Thelonious and Rubie Richardson.  The other Mrs. Monk was pleased, in part because her unpredictable and special middle child had finally found someone to take care of him and give her some more grandbabies.  And as a devout Christian, she would not accept anything less than holy matrimony. . . "

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Faith. . .

(from "Thelonious Monk:  The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D.G. Kelley)

". . . Valerie W. [Journalist Valerie Wilmer]:  Do you believe in God?
Monk:  I don't know nothing.  Do You?
Valerie W.:  No. I do not.
Monk:  It's a deep subject, you know, trying to think about it. I kinda go along with you. . . "

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Ah, the critics . . .

. . . gotta love 'em. . .

2012 marks 50 years of the Beatles. On Jan. 1, 1962, the Beatles flunked an audition at Decca Records in London. Label executive Dick Rowe’s brush-off: “Guitar groups are on the way out.”

Tommy Dorsey claimed, "Bebop has set music back 20 years."

Louis Armstrong complained that beboppers were playing wrong chords.

A prominent New York critic said, "Bebop sounds to me like a hardware store in an earthquake."

"He plays like somebody is standing on his foot." Miles Davis on Eric Dolphy

One critic said that Monk's music was "like missing the bottom step in the dark."

Critics called Thelonious Monk "the elephant on the keyboard."

Emperor Joseph II on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozars's The Marriage of Figaro,  "too many notes, Mozart"

Diana Krall is this decade’s Harry Connick Jr., Krall is popping up everywhere these days at festivals, in clubs and on CD sales and airplay charts. An adequate pianist, she’s a tentative, dry-voiced vocalist whose torpid, sorority-girl versions of classic songs barely measure up to hotel piano bar standards. Her eminence must seem like a slap in the face to vastly more gifted and creative singers, like Rebecca Parris and Ian Shaw.

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A little . . .

for your pleasure . . .

AMBIENCE & WINE, a digital-download release of new music will be available at http://www.cdbaby.com on APRIL 3, 2012. AMBIENCE & WINE contains a palette of aromas and flavours which complement any dish or occasion.  

 Some say. . .
". . .  His playing is technically outstanding and highly imaginative; I am always amazed that he manages to get back to resolve each piece without bursting out to infinity and beyond!"  Rod Deacey, Board Member of the Frederick Acoustic Musicians Enterprise (FAME), Musician, Performer, Writer, Poet, Organizer, Emcee, Bluesman (11/20/11)

". . . consistently creates aural pictures intelligently, pleasantly, and whimsically, and that's just within one song"  (Ron Goad, SAW, FAME, BMI)

". . . conjures the spirits of Thelonious Monk and a host of stride pianists" (John Lewis, Baltimore Magazine)

"His sense and choice of rhythm is always appropriate and interesting. . . "  (Jim Nash, Music Monthly)

". . . one can hear little snippets of this and that running throughout his work, just enough to put you in the mind of a long forgotten favorite before he turns it inside out or upside down. . . "  (Joe Hartlaub, Music-reviewer.com)


from AMBIENCE & WINE
©2011 Raymond M. Jozwiak



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Just because you're not a drummer. . .

. . . doesn't mean that you don't have to KEEP TIME.

(from T. Monk's advice. . . )
Pat your foot and sing the melody in your head when you play.

Stop playing all (that bullshit) those wierd (sic) notes, PLAY THE MELODY!

Make the drummer sound GOOD.

Discrimination is important.

You've got to dig it to DIG IT. YOU DIG?

All Reet!

It must be always NIGHT, otherwise they wouldn't need the LIGHTS.

Let's lift the bandstand!!

Avoid the HECKLERS.

Don't play the PIANO PART. I'm playing that. Don't listen to me. I'm supposed to be accompanying YOU.

The inside of the tune (the bridge) is the part that makes the outside sound good.

Don't play EVERYTHING (or EVERYTIME); let some things go by. Some music (is) just imagined. What you don't play can be more important than what you DO.

A note can be small as a pin or as big as the world. It depends on your IMAGINATION.

Stay in SHAPE! Sometimes a musician waits for a gig and when it comes, he's out of shape and can't make it.

When you're SWINGING, swing some MORE!

Always leave them wanting MORE.

Don't sound ANYBODY for a gig, just be on the scene. Those pieces were written so as to have something to play and to get cats INTERESTED enough to come to rehearsal.

You've got it! If you don;'t want to play, tell a joke or dance, but in any case YOU GOT IT! (to a drummer who didn't want to solo)

Whatever you think CAN'T be done, somebody will come along and DO IT. A genius is the one MOST LIKE HIMSELF!

They tried to get me to hate white people, but someone would always come along and spoil it.





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Talk about 'Gonzo'. . .

. . . sixty four years ago this month a little-known eccentric, introverted pianist walked into the young Blue Note record label's New York studios to make his first solo recordings.

Thelonious Monk may not have been officially or popularly described as 'Gonzo', but what better descriptive to convey the esoteric, cerebral, attractive and (some say) sexy music that he conceived and performed. Monk and Duke Ellington hold the distinction of being the 'most recorded' of jazz composers. Ellington's compositions numbered about 1,000. Monk wrote 70 tunes. Truly an original, even the beret and sunglasses of the beboppers' wardrobe were originated by Monk.

From Wikipedia. . . "At the time of his signing to Riverside, Monk was highly regarded by his peers and by some critics, but his records did not sell in significant numbers, and his music was still regarded as too "difficult" for mass-market acceptance. Indeed, with Monk's consent, Riverside had managed to buy out his previous Prestige contract for a mere $108.24. He willingly recorded two albums of jazz standards as a means of increasing his profile. The first of these, Thelonious Monk Plays the Music of Duke Ellington, featuring bass innovator Oscar Pettiford and drummer Kenny Clarke, included Ellington pieces "Caravan" and "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)".

On the 1956 LP Brilliant Corners, Monk recorded his own music. The complex title track, which featured tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, was so difficult to play that the final version had to be edited together from multiple takes. The album, however, was largely regarded as the first success for Monk; according to Orrin Keepnews, "It was the first that made a real splash.""

Monk was one of my original portals into bebop and jazz. The reason, I now think after many years of additional perspective, that his music compelled me so, was what I perceived to be its similarity to much of the progressive, 'art' rock in which I was so interested at the time, with it's unusual angles, unique accents, unbounded energy, incessant rhythm and sheer magnetism. Truly great music.




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