Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane

Album review

Seldom does a "cash in" turn into a "classic," but in the case of this 1961 album of outtakes and leftovers by Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane recorded four years prior, that's exactly what happened. Monk and Coltrane only played together briefly, during the last half of 1957 when Monk's quartet was in transition and Coltrane himself was juggling a busy solo recording schedule after being booted from Miles' first great quintet due to his heroin addiction. While Coltrane may have been struggling a bit at the time, Monk was at the height of his powers; over the course of 1957 the pianist would record and release four albums, at least two of which—Monk's Music and Brilliant Corners—are classics. Of those four, Coltrane was only featured prominently Monk's Music (his playing on the otherwise solo Thelonious Himself was limited to a single cut), the only album for which they had an official recording session. 

However, Coltrane would play in the studio with Monk's group on two other occasions during the year, and it was Riverside label owner Orrin Keepnews' realization that he had three decent recordings from the last of those sessions that prompted the release of Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane in 1961. Now, four years may not seem like a huge gap between recording and release, but in that time, Monk's rapport with Keepnews had deteriorated (the pianist would sign with Columbia in 1962, as soon as his contract with Riverside expired) and Coltrane, having wrapped up his successful run with Atlantic Records, had just signed a new deal with Impulse!. Keepnews shrewdly took those three songs from July, 1957 ("Ruby, My Dear," "Trinkle, Tinkle," "Nutty") and packaged them with outtakes from the two Monk albums on which Coltrane had appeared. That one of those outtakes, "Functional," was a piano piece with just Monk playing may make this set seem like a barrel-scraper, but in truth, there's a good argument that Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane is a far better album than any of the ones that were contemporaneously released in 1957. The interaction between Monk and Coltrane is intense and dynamic on all the takes here (except, you know, the solo piano piece), and Keepnews masterfully sequenced the set by leading off with heavy-hitting Monk chestnuts like "Ruby, My Dear" and "Trinkle, Tinkle," making the album sound like a classic, even on first listen. Sonically, the album sparkles, especially on the most recent "Original Jazz Classics" remaster, giving these random session takes a sense of intentionality. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz