Richard Andersson

The Monkious
No Straight With Chaser
JACC Records 56

Younger fans may not realize this, but about 60 years ago Thelonious Monk was so far removed from the Jazz canon that his playing and writing was condemned by a good portion of the music establishment. Today everything has changed and Monk is accorded the same respect as other stylists such as Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson. We’ll see if this canonization ever happens to Cecil Taylor. With so many playing Monk music, the question not seems to be not whether to play Monk, but how to interpret his tunes. Two European ensembles take up that challenge and come up with singular solutions. It’s striking to note though that while one band plays six Monk tunes and the other five, neither plays the same ones,

The Monkious consist of Portuguese guitarist Marcelo dos Reis and bassist Gonçalo Almeida as well as German drummer Philipp Ernsting, who singly or together have recorded with the likes of  Luís Vicente, Willaim Parker and Eve Risser. The German on Monk & More is bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall, known for his work with Die Enttäuschung. among many others, Danes, bassist Richard Andersson, who has worked with Tony Malaby and drummer Kasper Tom, who plays with Tomasz Dąbrowski and others; and Polish pianist Artur Tuznik, another Copenhagen resident.

Adapting Monk music which never featured a guitar to the Monkious’ trio calls for some reconfiguration in length and pacing. As well the six tunes are performed as one 49½ minute medley so that mid-range standardization is expressed along with the spiky motifs which define the oeuvre. Furthermore while Ernsting using clanks and rolls, mostly sticks to the rhythmic execution that composer designated, Almeida’s balanced stops, booming recoils and sul tasto swipes set up counterpoint not imagined by Monk. There’s even a sequence on the concluding “Blue Monk” where bass and drums resonations move upfront leaving the guitarist to provide accompaniment. During that sequences however dos Reis has a three-fold task. His guitar has to take the place of both piano and that of the usual saxophonist who was in Monk’s quartet, plus besides stating the melody he has to create contemporary theme variations.

All this is done by aligning the melodies to string modifications. Throughout he strums, stops and frails at various tempos, with expositions sometimes directed to intersect with measured double bass thumps or supplely extracting the theme from within a blizzard of powerful string tones. Upfront, as on sections such as “Well You Needn’t” and “Evidence”, he upends the expected evolution with ringing notes and bright finger style emphasis, or on the latter segueing from low pitched vibrations to head repetition and then to clipping single string notes with blurred fingering.

The most conspicuous reconstituting of the material occurs on an elongated version of “Blue Monk”, which ends the CD. After the bassist’s wood-creaking and arco string buzzing counterpoint to the guitarist’s careful outlining of the theme is heard, dos Reis’ interpretation of the title results in bottleneck-like frails that precedes a walking bass line and squeezed drum shuffles. Following applause and a 30 second pause, the three pick up the tune again at a much quicker pace with stentorian string plucks from Almeida and bell-like flanges from the guitarist. Eventually the fluid back-and-forth motion leads to appreciative audience yelps and applause.

Unlike No Straight With Chaser, Monk & More is a studio session with personnel resembling classic Monk quartets of reed, piano, bass and drums. Also unlike the trio, the quartet adds three non-Monk tunes to its Monk five. Strangely though the readings of lines by Ornette Coleman, Lee Konitz and Jimmy Giuffre seem too respectful and straight even playing up the affiliations of Coleman’s “The Blessing”’ to Bop with a conventional groove, quotes and head recapitulations.  Only the quiet lope at which Lennie Tristanu’s “317 East 32nd Street” is taken as the opening track appears to set up what follows with resonating double bass string slides plus chalumeau register slurs from Mahal.

Those snorts and slurs are more prominent when harsh variations are a defining factor in the interpretations of tunes like “Trinkle Tinkle” and especially “Brilliant Corners”. While the first is characterized by antiphony between the bassist’s stops and bass clarinet snarls, the latter uses strident clarinet triple-tonguing to speed up the melody so that a bluesy interface is created from clarion reed squeezes and thickened string pops.

At the same time the quartet stresses its individuality by elsewhere playing up the puckish quality of Monk’s music. On “Pannonica” for instance, the prominent melody becomes an easy strolling variation. Thick but supple bass string reverberations emphasize the theme while clarinet peeps and piano key clips gently mock and lighten its interpretations.

Forty-four years after his death Thelonious Monk’s compositions have become as much part of the Jazz canon as Duke Ellington’s. And like the works of Beethoven and Bach they have proved open to many interpretations and modifications. The discs here are two fine examples of that.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: No: 1. Monks Dream 2. Epistrophy 3. Well You Needn’t 4. Bemsha Swing 5. Evidence 6. Blue Monk

Personnel: No: Marcelo dos Reis (guitar); Gonçalo Almeida (bass) and Philipp Ernsting (drums)

Track Listing: Monk: 1. 317 East 32nd Street 2. Brilliant Corners 3. Subconscious-Lee 4. The Blessing 5. We See 6. Ask Me Now 7. Four Brothers 8. Trinkle Tinkle 9. Pannonica

Personnel: Monk: Rudi Mahall (clarinet and bass clarinet); Artur Tuznik (piano); Richard Andersson (bass) and Kasper Tom (drums)