His strong stylistic choices (beret, fez, dark glasses) and on-stage eccentricities (sudden shuffle-dances around the piano) are sometimes hard to separate from suggestions of unspecified mental illness. Not always understood or appreciated by his contemporaries, Monk’s behaviour had a reputation for idiosyncrasy. Yet he always retained his singular sound, and forged his own path as performer, composer and bandleader, regardless of critical reception. Monk was a key part of these explorations, and played with many of the key figures in the development of jazz (from Coleman Hawkins to Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins to Miles Davis, Art Blakey to John Coltrane). In his twenties he was the house pianist at Minton’s Playhouse, widely-regarded as the petri dish in which the early experiments in what became known as Bebop were conducted. The same qualities apply to his unmistakeable compositions, many of which are now regarded as classic jazz standards, though there’s frequently very little that is ‘standard’ about them.īorn in North Carolina in 1917, he began piano lessons with stride pianist and neighbour Alberta Simmons at the age of six. He was an accomplished piano player who deliberately stripped back his technique to create a style that is spare, abstract, wilful, witty, angular and lyrical. Jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk is undoubtedly one of the most individual voices in jazz and, in this article, we’re going to look at 10 of his most iconic albums.įew musicians have had such a distinctive sound, nor such an iconic presence, as jazz pianist Thelonious Monk.