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thelonious monk - alone in san francisco

alieNDNalieNDN 2,181 Posts
edited October 2005 in Strut Central
arggggggg i phucking love it to the highest extent, it always takes my mind all over the place, but slowly, i think its my favorite album to listen to riding the subway after work looking out the window. that's all i wanted to say...actually i also wanted to inquire about any other solo piano LPs worth checking? it gives me that feeling of being in a bar afterhours, without other instruments

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  • Sun_FortuneSun_Fortune 1,374 Posts
    yo check this out: my girllie works for a childrens book (Penguin) company and they're putting out a series of jazz books for kids. For each artist they cover, they give him a nickname. GF comes home two days ago, furious, and tells me that they made the Monk book called Thelonious Monkey. She had spoken up saying it was an afront to jazz, civil rights history and decency in general. They rebuffed her and said she was reading too much into it -- that the title was perfect and worked so well. She had to go to the head of the imprint yesterday, after talking with the marketing department as well, and break down why that would be offensive. They finally gave in, but damn, thats

    sorry to hijack, that album is great by the way. Keith Jarret has a surprisingly good boxed set on ECM. Bill evans has a couple solo jawns that are very good, cant remmeber names tho.
  • dig_thisdig_this 279 Posts
    arggggggg i phucking love it to the highest extent, it always takes my mind all over the place, but slowly, i think its my favorite album to listen to riding the subway after work looking out the window. that's all i wanted to say...actually i also wanted to inquire about any other solo piano LPs worth checking? it gives me that feeling of being in a bar afterhours, without other instruments

    hi-

    yeah, definitely Bill Evans.

    altho it's a trio, I'd heavily recommend the "Everybody Digs Bill Evans" record. there's several solo pieces on there, and on the tracks with the full trio the bass/drums are pretty minimal (brushed drums, etc) and piano's full front/center....there's a couple more uptempo things on there, but most of the record gets right into that pensive after-hours vibe.

    you may want to check out McCoy Tyner's "Echoes of a Friend" and Bud Powell's "Eternity" for straight-up solo piano recordings...
  • dsandersdsanders 495 Posts
  • funky16cornersfunky16corners 7,175 Posts
    There's actually a good two CD Sony comp of Monk solo stuff. I don't know of a lot of recordings of just the piano, but check out trio stuff by Herbie Nichols and Bud Powell, and if you can track it down anything by Dick Twardzik. Twardzik was a young guy from Boston who played with Serge Chaloff and Chet Baker (early 50's) and had a really unusual, interesting style. He OD'd in Paris while on tour with Baker in 1955.
  • Tuff_GongTuff_Gong 627 Posts
    I was thinking Bill Evans myself... I definitely recommend "Conversations With Myself". It's not technically solo piano, but it is just 2 pianos, both played by Bill Evans.
  • nickjnickj 53 Posts

    This is another fantastic solo Monk album.



    I think these two Bill Evans lp's, while not technically "solo", are both






    And for what it's worth, this is pretty renowned as a classic, but I've never heard it



    Plus there's also that Herbie Hancock Japanese-only solo album, a couple solo Sun Ra piano lp's, that Stanley Cowell, etc.
  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
  • drbrownscelraydrbrownscelray 648 Posts
    arggggggg i phucking love it to the highest extent, it always takes my mind all over the place, but slowly, i think its my favorite album to listen to riding the subway after work looking out the window. that's all i wanted to say...actually i also wanted to inquire about any other solo piano LPs worth checking? it gives me that feeling of being in a bar afterhours, without other instruments

    This is my number one record to listen to while marking up contracts and whatnot. I don't know how I lived without it for so many years. Also goes great with: vicodin, sleep, red wine, house cleaning, sunday mornings, etc.
  • dig_thisdig_this 279 Posts
    This is my number one record to listen to while marking up contracts and whatnot. I don't know how I lived without it for so many years. Also goes great with: vicodin, sleep, red wine, house cleaning, sunday mornings, etc.

    not to mention sunday morning house cleaning on red wine and vicodin
  • alieNDNalieNDN 2,181 Posts
    thanks again for the recco's homiez
  • secondlinesecondline 64 Posts
    i have a dope album by Dolo Coker, i think it's just called Alone. Also the Mingus plays Piano album is pretty solid. Also check Dollar Brand, although i'm not sure if he ever did a solo album.
    g
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