Thelonious Monk 1963 In Japan
This is the liner note from Thelonious Monk 1963 In Japan ULS-6117-B Teichiku Japan
Thelonious Monk (piano) Charlie Rouse (Tenor Saxophone) Butch Warren (Bass) Frankie Dunlop (Drums)
Sitting beside the recording sessions of Thelonious Monk in Japan by Yasuyuki Ishihara (TBS, producer)
A great Jazz pianist and composer, Thelonious Monk died on 5th of February 1982 and that sad event shocked musicians all over the world.
Monk came to Japan for the 1st time in 1963 May, then in 1966 May, and 1970 Oct, and the last time was in 1971 when he performed at Newport Jazz Festival in Tokyo. Only 4 times visiting Japan. To compared to the other Jazz legends, that is a kind of small number of visits to Japan.
These sessions were recorded at TBS studio (TV studio) basically taped (recorded) for TV shows on 23rd of May 1963 and mastered from 2 inch tape.
When Monk and the band members came to the studio, we all thought that Monk would take off his heavy long black coat and hat. It was at the end of May and it was really humid. Considering the lighting, I think the temperature was really high. But he never took off the coat and hat and eventually started rehearsing.
We saw him sweating like a horse! but he just kept calm and continued playing. And when the solo was on another band member, he started a peculiar dance at the piano!
He also had a big ring at one of his fingers and that ring started to hit the keyboards and sometimes he had to stop playing! but he never stopped playing.
Finally, he came to his senses and in the 2nd session, he took off the coat and ring, then played perfectly.
You know what, on that day, the person in charge of musical instruments at the studio was called up by his boss who was furious at him, saying that the piano Monk used was unusable since all the keyboards were filled with water (actually the sweat of Monk). He was claiming that somebody poured a bucket of water or something, haha.
Anyway, that is Monk. His peculiar actions and great music he left will never be forgotten.
We are really honored to introduce to you these unissued sessions in Japan 1963 at the time of first anniversary of his death.