Monk's Dream Accessories
 Straight, No Chaser
Ah Um
A Love Supreme
Kind Of Blue
At Carnegie Hall
Blue Train (Rudy Van Gelder Edition)
Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane
Somethin' Else (Rudy Van Gelder Edition)
Time Out
Birth Of The Cool (Rudy Van Gelder Edition)
Monk's Dream Reviews
Five stars is an inadequate response to the supurb quality manifested here. A definite highlight in the infinite realms of the Thelonious, not to mention the beautiful art of Jazz music. Complex, progressive, and extensivly eloquent. One of Monk's most. genius (literally) recordings; then again what has he done that isn't genius. A compliment to any music collection.
It contains four bonus tracks and three previously unreleased tracks. This was Monk's first album for Columbia. Most of all I wanted it because my all-time favorite 'Just a Gigolo' is on it. It's a wonderful collection of 12 great pieces.
The problem is this, though: the remastered version is kind of different. This is undisputably a fantastic record. Does anyone know.
Regardless, if you don't know the original, this won't matter to you. Most obvious are the name change for "Bolivar Blues" (now called "Blue Bolivar Blues") and the full thirty seconds missing from "Bye-Ya." (It's gone from a 6:00 minute track to 5:30, losing much of the tune the precedes the piano solo). once in the 80s and again when Columbia reissued it in the late 90s.
I've checked around and haven't found an explanation for these differences. So buy away. So much so, I bought it twice.
When I first started to really ''get'' jazz 3 years ago, I had a rather personal technique to decide if a record was really good or not to me: After listening once,if I was able to remember each song, it was a good sign. This has happened only 4 times since. When I bought Monks Dream I had the music in my head all night and ever since. A must in any form (CD, vinyl.). For Kind of Blue ( no surprise), Giant Steps, the Blues and the Abstract truth and Monks dream. There are some really good recording out there but this is really a 10 out of 10.
There's only one new song, "Bright Mississippi", but it's one of his classics. Monk's most creative period was the mid 40's to early 50's, when he developed his style (revolutionary at the time) and wrote most of his classic compositions. I think that is a mistake. I highly recommend this one. The sax player, Charlie Rouse, is not a celebrity name like John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, or Johnny Griffin, but his tone and style perfectly complement Monk on this record. Monk's opening solo on "Sweet and Lovely" is one of his best, and when Rouse comes in after a couple of minutes, it's pretty close to perfect. Sadly he was underappreciated by the public until after that period.
By the time of this recording, 1962, Monk's style has been fully developed for a while. This is Monk as a mature artist refining his style with a great band. When Monk covers standards like "Like a Gigolo" and "Body and Soul" he makes them sound like they are his songs. This record is sometimes dismissed because there is not much innovation or new compositions.
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