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Jimmy Giuffre: Blue Monk

Rating: 94/100 (learn more)

Waiting in the wings of CBS-TV's special The Sound of Jazz (1957), Jimmy Giuffre watched his co-star Thelonious Monk deliver "Blue Monk" to a no-doubt-mystified national audience. Later on the show, Giuffre joined oddball traditionalist Pee Wee Russell for a two-clarinet blues, and a year afterward commingled these experiences, recording Monk's tune in the shaggy-dog style of his Pee Wee jam. Like Monk, Giuffre was a modernist thoroughly grounded in premodern jazz, as were his cohorts in this peculiar trio. Brookmeyer's cup-muted, choke-valved trombone is rascally true to his K.C. roots; Hall's neighborly rhythm guitar and folksy basslines defy his Eastern conservatory preparation. The resultant "Blue Monk" is a calm, cool, impish delight.

Reviewer: Alan Kurtz

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Tags: blue monk · clarinet · monk covers · west coast jazz