Complete Prestige Recordings

Artist: Thelonious Monk
Label: Prestige
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Box set
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 3

UPC: 025218442824
EAN: 0025218442824
ASIN: B00004UETR

Release Date: 2000-08-22

Related Categories:

Bebop General

| Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music

General

| Jazz | Styles | Music

Modern Postbebop

| Jazz | Styles | Music

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

General

| Jazz | Box Sets | Stores | Music

Listmania:

Desert Island Discs--Jazz
Pre-Fusion Jazz Classics
American Audio Box Sets
Must Have Jazz Boxsets.
Jazz Box Sets I Want #1

Tracks:

Flyin' Hawk
Recollections
Drifting On A Reed
On The Bean
Bye-Ya
Monk's Dream
Sweet And Lovely
Little Rootie Tootie
Bemsha Swing
Reflections
These Foolish Things
Trinkle, Tinkle
Think Of One (Take 1)
Let's Call This
Think Of One (Take 2)
Friday The 13th

Tracks:

We See
Locomotive
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
Hackensack
Nutty
Just A Gigolo
Work
Blue Monk
I Want To Be Happy
The Way You Look Tonight
More Than You Know

Tracks:

Bags' Groove (Take 1)
Swing
The Man I Love (Take 1)
Swing Spring
Bags' Groove (Take 2)
The Man I Love (Take 2)

Similar Items:

The Complete Blue Note Recordings
Monk Alone: The Complete Solo Studio Recordings of Thelonious Monk 1962-1968
Charlie Parker: A Studio Chronicle 1940-1948
The Freelance Years: The Complete Riverside and Contemporary Recordings
The Columbia Years: '62-'68

Customer Reviews:

Monk's best *PLAYING*.......2005-07-01

Although I had a few of his cd's, I never "got" Monk until I saw the Ken Burns jazz film. There's some priceless footage of Monk live in there and it shows you that not only is he playing the music, he's playing *with* the music.

The Prestige recordings were made after Monk was able to regain his cabaret card in the early 50's. He had been unable to play live for several years prior. You can hear Monk busting loose on these tracks, I have yet to hear Monk play with more intensity than he does here. It sounds like he's trying to make up for lost time.

If you want to hear Monk's best songs, get "Genius of Modern Music". If you are new to Monk and his distinctive playings style, try one of the Columbia recordings like "Straight No Chaser". They're a little easier on new ears. But if you want to hear Monk the pianist in take-no-prisoners mode, look no further than this beautiful package.

Great performances, great sound, nice artwork, great numbers.......2004-01-28

The only weakness in this release, is the fact
that on the third CD (with Miles Davis, also
elsewhere available as Bag's Groove) there's
midway a lot of background noise mixed in with
the musicians and instruments, coming from the
tape recording machine itself, which is very
annoying. For some reason, in the first half of
the third CD, it doesn't come across almost at
all, until it becomes annoying, as I said, in the
final half of the third CD.

Another weakness, is that the CD's are packaged
as 3 distinct, separate jewel case, taking up
a lot of space, when a small, triple CD jewel
case could have held all 3 of the CD's.

The strong points, is the excellent sound, excellent
compositions, excellent performances, excellent
artistic and performance value in the perspective
of the listener, and all this, coming from a moment
when little money, mass media attention, or public
recognition was given to Monk, jazz, label owners
or even, to the importance of recording technology,
in the studio, back in 1948 or 1950.

All in all, great music ...a keeper. The artwork and
commentary, is a bonus, also. Very nice.

Marvelous Monk.......2002-10-06

Monk's years at Prestige are often overlooked, in comparison with the attention given to his Riverside and Columbia years. This well-priced collection offers wonderful selections with Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Colman Hawkins and Max Roach. The real gem here is disc 3, containing the famous Christmas Eve 1954 session with Miles and Milt Jackson. The 20-Bit remastering is truly outstanding!!! In fact, if they ever re-do the pricey Riverside Box in this mannor, I may just have to buy that as well!!! Wonderful stuff.....

A thick, tasteful slice of monk's early recordings.......2002-09-26

I'm a bit surprised this box set has not received more enthusiastic attention. First off, it contains all original recordings (unlike some of Monk's Columbia recordings), and the list of classic Monk tunes reads long, including Monk's Dream, Hackensack, Nutty, Bemsha Swing, and Trinkle Tinkle. The first CD even has some very early tracks of Monk playing with none other than Coleman Hawkins: a very rare nostalgic treat despite the subpar sound quality of those sessions. In between that beginning and the final cd of Monk playing with Miles and Milt Jackson (on the classic "Bag's Groove" recording), there are many good tunes played with bands featuring amoung others the likes of Sonny Rollins, Percy Heath, Max Roach, Art Blakey, and Frank Foster. Moreover, these recordings are truely representative of the classic Monk sound that made him so unique and eventually world famous. And 50 years later the music still sounds just as fresh and quirky, partly because Monk was so unique that few would dare or have the imagination to imitate him. One of the few musicians who exercised his full right to artistic freedom.

The High Priest.......2000-11-26

The sessions with Art Blakey that include tunes like "Hacken- sack" and the Latino blue "Bye-Ya" are superb, with bassist Percy Heath contributing a steady thump on several of these sessions. The '44 Coleman Hawkins sessions have bad sound but great soloing from Hawkins. The star however is a young Sonny Rollins turning it out on "Think of One". Monk's playing always sounds cutting-edge never 48 years old. This is crucial hard bop from a crew of super geniuses.

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Fascinated ~ Company B

Mistaken Identity ~ Delta Goodrem

Mental Traveller ~ Love Is Colder than Death

Live...As It Should Be ~ Kelly Richey

Get Closer ~ Molly Bancroft

Fair Warning

World's Best Dad ~ Various Artists

Peel Back the Skin ~ Filipinos

Wild West ~ Deadly Snakes

Let's Get Down ~ Bow Wow