The Thelonious Monk Trio - Thelonious Monk (1953/1956)
This is my first Monk album.
Ignorance is essential. Without inexperience, there would never be the strive to learn and grow, and ultimately that's the point isn't it? Not to reach a point where you're an infallible connoisseur, but to keep learning so you can keep learning. Treating fellow listeners as fountains of knowledge that can only make the homebrew healthier.
So, to me, ignorance is an essential part of a blog like this, too. I'm not here to review the latest and greatest, I'm here to give presence to the expanding of my musical horizons.
My first time hanging out with Thelonious was a bit difficult to plan. I saw him in blue, gliding text across a blank cover and approached eagerly. Only upon close inspection did I find a whole queue of variation standing in line; 'Thelonious Monk Trio' as opposed to just 'Thelonious', or 'Monk's Moods' as opposed to just 'Monk's Mood'. Re-releases and re-releases, with differing tracklists no less? It made me all a bit uncomfortable for a first impression. He reassured me toward the 1956 version.
Maybe the shorter '53 original is a smoother listen, who knows - it occurred to me that Reflections did fit better as the closer - but these things matter little when Monk, Mapp, Blakey and Roach fill your ears. Is the material astounding? No, it's what I needed for the moment.
Lovely percussion and melody on Bye-Ya. Distant vocals in Bemsha Swing... they felt it as they played. They felt it.