Thelonious Sphere Monk was born on October 10th 1917 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. By the age of 5 he was uprooted from NC and transplanted in New York City where he began playing piano. By the age of 13, he had won the weekly amateur contest at the Apollo Theater so many times that they barred him from entering again. He was only 19 when he joined the house band of Minton’s Playhouse, the Harlem jazz club where he played with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. For the next two decades, he experimented with and perfected the style of music he is credited with inventing: bebop. He recorded with John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dizzy, The Bird, and Charlie Rouse.
To honor the significant influence that Thelonious Monk has had on music and celebrate his unique compositions, Duke U and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz will present “Following Monk” - a festival of 18 events over 6 weeks in North Carolina.
The program begins September 15th and runs until October 28th. Monk’s 90th birthday will be celebrated (post-humus of course) on October 10th. The Duke Performances press release declares:
offers three world premieres, numerous special concert events, commentary and master classes exploring the genius of the jazz legend. This series also includes the Following Monk Institute, a four-day continuing education course offering guided tours of important sites of Monk’s childhood and family heritage in eastern North Carolina, with participation by Monk’s son, T.S. Monk, and other family members.
Here are some of the specific events scheduled (mostly based around Duke U in Durham, NC):
Monk’s son T.S. and other family members will participate in the Following Monk Institute, a four-day continuing education course that features a guided tour of Monk’s birthplace of Rocky Mount, N.C. and the Newton Grove plantation where his father and grandfather were born.
Saturday 9/15/07 8 pm Reynolds Industries Theater
The Kronos Quartet will unveil Mavericks / Monk: Kronos on Innovators, an evening of music devised especially for FOLLOWING MONK, featuring three world premiere arrangements of “Round Midnight” (commissioned by Duke Performances and the Center for Documentary Studies). Kronos first investigated Monk’s music with their seminal 1984 album, Monk Suite.
Sunday 9/30/07, 7 pm Reynolds Industries Theater
Jazz icons Hank Jones and Charlie Haden will make a rare duo appearance to perform spirituals,hymns, and rural African-American folk tunes from their landmark 1995 album, Steal Away – music that Monk and his family knew well.
Saturday 10/13/07, 8 pm Page Auditorium
Charles Tolliver will lead his acclaimed orchestra, featuring Stanley Cowell on piano, in a performance of Monk’s legendary 1959 Town Hall concert, using new arrangements commissioned by Duke Performances and the Center for Documentary Studies. Tolliver will transcribe Monk’s original concert using never-before-heard tapes of Monk’s rehearsals with composer/arranger Hall Overton, made in a New York loft by famed photographer W. Eugene Smith, currently being preserved, examined, and researched as part of the Jazz Loft Project at the Center for Documentary Studies.
Wednesday through Saturday 9/26/07 through 9/29/07, 8 pm Smith Warehouse Duke Department of Theater Studies
Misterioso
Duke’s Department of Theater Studies presents a part-rehearsed, part-improvised jazz-infused theatrical production based on the legendary Sixth Avenue New York City jazz loft where photographer W. Eugene Smith and Juilliard professor Hall Overton had studios, where on any given night 1954-1965 anything could happen, from the mundane to the historic – Monk, Miles Davis, Dali, Diane Arbus, obscure underground characters, and everything in between.
Friday 9/28/07, 8 pm Baldwin Auditorium Johnny Griffin w/the Duke Jazz Ensemble
Return of the Little Giant
The Chicago-born Griffin, who broke into the big time as a teenager playing with T-Bone Walker six decades ago, was one of Monk’s favorite saxophonists and is one of his greatest blues exponents.
Thelonious Monk Links
Following Monk
Duke Performances
Thelonious Monk Institute
Thelonious Monk - “Lulu’s Back in Town” Part 1:
Thelonious Monk - “Epistrophy”:
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