Thelonious Monk - Monk's Dream

I wish all my dreams were this good.......

Complex, progressive, and extensivly eloquent!! One of Monk's most
genius (literally) recordings; then again what has he done that isn't genius? A definite highlight in the infinite realms of the Thelonious, not to mention the beautiful art of Jazz music. Five stars is an inadequate response to the supurb quality manifested here. A compliment to any music collection.
August 21, 2008

Monk's Dream

It's a wonderful collection of 12 great pieces. This was Monk's first album for Columbia. It contains four bonus tracks and three previously unreleased tracks. Most of all I wanted it because my all-time favorite 'Just a Gigolo' is on it. July 29, 2008

Expanded but shorter...

This is undisputably a fantastic record. So much so, I bought it twice... once in the 80s and again when Columbia reissued it in the late 90s. The problem is this, though: the remastered version is kind of different. 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.) I've checked around and haven't found an explanation for these differences. Does anyone know?

Regardless, if you don't know the original, this won't matter to you. So buy away! November 10, 2007

when I first got into jazz...

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.
When I bought Monks Dream I had the music in my head all night and ever since!!!
This has happened only 4 times since. 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! A must in any form (CD, vinyl....) September 13, 2007

Monk in top form

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. 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 record is sometimes dismissed because there is not much innovation or new compositions. I think that is a mistake. This is Monk as a mature artist refining his style with a great band. 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. There's only one new song, "Bright Mississippi", but it's one of his classics. When Monk covers standards like "Like a Gigolo" and "Body and Soul" he makes them sound like they are his songs. I highly recommend this one. February 13, 2007

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