Thelonious Monk - Plays Duke Ellington (Vinyl)

Personnel: Thelonious Monk (piano); Oscar Pettiford (bass); Kenny Clarke (drums).Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey on July 21 & 27, 1955. Originally released on Riverside (201). Includes liner notes by Orrin Keepnews.Digitally remastered by Joe Tarantino (Fantasy Studios).Tributee: Duke Ellington.The Prestige label never held Thelonious Monk in the same regard as Miles Davis or the Modern Jazz Quartet, never truly appreciating what they had--perpetuating notions about Monk's personal weirdness and the oddness of his music. Orrin Keepnews was one of the first writers to hear Monk's message on the pianist's early Blue Note recordings, and by the time he entered into partnership with Bill Grauer to form Riverside, Monk's relationship with Prestige had deteriorated. So Keepnews lent Monk the princely sum of $108.27, thus enabling him to pay back label advances, and enabling him to be released from his recording contract.Keepnews saw in Monk a brilliant improvise