But the Griffin solo was the stand out and after following Monk's melody for a while, he then set himself apart, his solo stood out for its lengthy domineering nature, one felt at times that he crowed, but he had some sweet parts where his quick sax notes mesmerized. I looked at the eight tunes on the album I accessed and saw that the tracks told the story of the 2016 campaign -'Nutty,' 'Blues Five Spot,' 'Lets Cool One,' 'In Walked Bud,' 'Just a Gigolo,' 'Misterioso,' 'Round Midnight,' 'Evidence.'ДЄs I listened I thought of the parade of sixteen, where the melody Monk makes on piano is catchy, nearly retro swing feel to that melody, clear and easy to get. The Quartet were Ahmed Abdul-Malik on bass, Monk on piano, Johnny Griffin on tenor saxophone and Roy Haynes on drums, mostly recorded at the Five Spot Blues CafГ© in New York, one of Monk's first gigs after having his cabaret card and right to work restored. Naturally, I listened to the albumВ— Misterioso and the cover bears the painting called The Seer by Giorgio de Chirico. But Misterioso is also about the mystery of life and I am sure Monk could have called the piece Mystery but something in the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, take your pick, Misterioso better framed the mood of the tuneВ—the word is onomatopoeic. These are the questions that occurred to me as I wrote this articleВ—a fitting tribute in Monk's centenary year.

Does improvisation sound more inviting now? Music and improvisationВ—that comes naturally to our ears but what if we say life and improvisation? Huh? Well, life is improvisation is it not? How do we deal best with that period of time between birth and death that we call life? Life is a strange dance partnerВ—it offers one fun, friends, food, love, knowledge, discovery but lets you know throughout that death is part of this deal called life.

Thelonious monk mysterioso