Artist	Song
Thelonious Monk	'Round Midnight
from Genius Of Modern Music, Vol. 1 (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition Remastered) (2001)
Thelonious Monk	Straight,No Chaser
from Jazz Profile: Thelonious Monk (1998)
Thelonious Monk	Blue Monk
from Monk's Blues (1994)
Thelonious Monk	Epistrophy (Remastered)
from The Complete Blue Note Recordings (1994)
Thelonious Monk	Ruby My Dear
from Genius Of Modern Music, Vol. 1 (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition Remastered) (2001)
Thelonious Monk	Crepuscule With Nellie
from Criss-Cross (2003)
Thelonious Monk	In Walked Bud
from The Complete Blue Note Recordings (1994)
Thelonious Monk	Well You Needn't
from Genius Of Modern Music, Vol. 1 (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition Remastered) (2001)
Thelonious Monk	Rhythm-A-Ning
from Criss-Cross (2003)
Thelonious Monk	Brilliant Corners
from Monk's Blues (1994)
Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane	Evidence
from At Carnegie Hall (2005)
Thelonious Monk	Four In One (Remastered)
from The Complete Blue Note Recordings (1994)
Thelonious Monk	Monk's Mood
from Jazz Profile: Thelonious Monk (1998)
Thelonious Monk	Misterioso (Remastered)
from The Complete Blue Note Recordings (1994)
Thelonious Monk	Criss Cross
from Jazz Profile: Thelonious Monk (1998)
Thelonious Monk	I Mean You (Remastered)
from The Complete Blue Note Recordings (1994)
Thelonious Monk	Bemsha Swing
from The Essential Thelonious Monk (2003)
Thelonious Monk	Off Minor
from The Complete Blue Note Recordings (1994)
Thelonious Monk	Little Rootie Tootie
from The Complete Prestige Recordings (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Nutty
from The Complete Prestige Recordings (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Ugly Beauty
from Straight No Chaser (2002)
Thelonious Monk	Ask Me Now
from The Complete Blue Note Recordings (1994)
Thelonious Monk Quintet	Think of One
from Monk (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Hackensack
from Monk (2006)
Thelonious Monk	All the Things You Are (Remastered)
from The Complete Blue Note Recordings (1994)
Thelonius Monk	Pannonica
from Brilliant Corners (2009)
John Coltrane & Thelonious Monk	Trinkle, Tinkle
from Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane (2006)
Thelonious Monk Quartet	Bright Mississippi
from Monk's Dream (2002)
Thelonious Monk	Let's Call This
from Monk (2006)
Thelonious Monk Quartet	Bye-Ya
from Monk's Dream (2002)
Thelonious Monk	We See
from Monk (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Let's Cool One
from Jazz Profile: Thelonious Monk (1998)
Buddy Rich, Charlie Parker, Curly Russell, Dizzy Gillespie & Thelonious Monk	Bloomdido
from The Essential Charlie Parker (1992)
Thelonious Monk	I Surrender, Dear
from Solo Monk (2003)
Thelonious Monk	Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are
from Live At the Jazz Workshop - Complete (2001)
Thelonious Monk Quartet	Just a Gigolo
from Monk's Dream (2002)
Thelonious Monk	Green Chimneys
from Straight, No Chaser (1996)
Thelonious Monk	Work
from Rudy Van Gelder Remasters: Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Eronel
from Criss-Cross (2003)
Thelonious Monk	Darn That Dream
from The Unique Thelonious Monk (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Round Lights
from Thelonious Alone In San Francisco (2006)
Thelonius Monk	Blue Monk
from Thelonius Monk: 1963 In Japan (1995)
Thelonious Monk	Blue Sphere
from The London Collection Volume 1 (2000)
Thelonious Monk	Reflections
from Monk's Blues (1994)
Thelonious Monk	Caravan
from The Best of Thelonious Monk (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Willow Weep for Me
from The Complete Blue Note Recordings (1994)
Thelonious Monk	Thelonious
from The Thelonious Monk Orchestra At Town Hall (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Jackie-Ing
from The Best of Thelonious Monk (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
from Monk (2006)
Thelonious Monk Quartet	Five Spot Blues
from Monk's Dream (2002)
Thelonious Monk	Lulu's Back In Town
from It's Monk's Time (2003)
Thelonious Monk	Played Twice
from Big Band and Quartet In Concert (1994)
Thelonious Monk	I'll Follow You
from Genius Of Modern Music, Vol. 2 (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition Remastered) (2001)
Thelonious Monk	Shuffle Boil (Retake)
from It's Monk's Time (2003)
Thelonious Monk	It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
from Riverside Profiles: Thelonious Monk (2006)
Thelonious Monk	San Francisco Holiday
from Thelonious Monk In Italy (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Tea for Two
from Criss-Cross (2003)
Thelonious Monk	Humph
from Genius Of Modern Music, Vol. 1 (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition Remastered) (2001)
Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane	Crepescule With Nellie
from At Carnegie Hall (2005)
Thelonious Monk	Don't Blame Me (Retake 1)
from Criss-Cross (2003)
Thelonious Monk	Raise Four
from Underground (1997)
Thelonious Monk	Monk's Point
from Solo Monk (2003)
Thelonious Monk Quartet	Light Blue
from Thelonious In Action (Remastered) [Live] (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Stuffy Turkey
from It's Monk's Time (2003)
Thelonious Monk	Dinah (Take 2)
from Solo Monk (2003)
Thelonious Monk	Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)
from The Unique Thelonious Monk (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Sophisticated Lady
from Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington (2006)
Thelonious Monk	Boo Boo's Birthday (Take 11)
from Underground (1997)
Thelonious Monk Quartet	Coming On the Hudson
from Thelonious In Action (Remastered) [Live] (2006)
Thelonious Monk Quartet	Sweet and Lovely
from Monk's Dream (2002)
Thelonious Monk	Just You, Just Me
from Live At the Jazz Workshop - Complete (2001)
Thelonious Monk	Nice Work If You Can Get It (Take 3)
from Monk Alone: The Complete Columbia Solo Studio Recordings of Thelonious Monk (1962-1968) (1998)
Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane	Nutty
from At Carnegie Hall (2005)
Thelonious Monk	April In Paris
from The Complete Blue Note Recordings (1994)
Thelonious Monk	Skippy
from The Complete Blue Note Recordings (1994)

Comment:

Always a joker in the pack of bebop’s founding heroes, Thelonious Monk took longer than most to find the public’s approval. His somewhat thorny voicings and amusing between-the-cracks piano style might have presented a learning curve to early listeners, but he established himself as one of jazz’s standout composers and players, and his oddly comfortable sound (one tune is titled “Ugly Beauty” — live version included here) lends an almost beatific presence anywhere it’s played. These Essentials tap the heart of his eccentricity, his warmth and his unique genius, from beguiling, self-penned standards like 1944’s “Well You Needn’t” and 1942’s “Epistrophy” (dubbed “the first classic modern-jazz composition”) to his mesmerizing covers of others’ timeless pieces, including Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).”

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