Oh, how I wish I had been alive to have witnessed this live! There is music making on this disc that is supernatural. I've seldom heard Monk more deftly lyrical. Coltrane's ferocity has almost never been as tempered by intellect. Abdul-Malik defines a deep pocket in music that is sometimes insanely difficult. Shadow Wilson can be dazzlingly explosive and contemplative in the same four measures (perhaps the biggest surprise for me). I haven't listened as much to a single recording since I was 17, and that was a looooong time ago.
This time the "HYPE" is true: Monk/Coltrane CD.
I will assume that you jazz lovers have been reading about the recently discovered tapes of the 1957 Carnegie Hall concert by Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane that was released on 9/27 by Blue Note records. Well, this time all the HYPE is true! The sonics are quite good for a live concert and Monk got to finally play on a world class piano. Oh, but the beauty of the music. I believe this might be the best recorded performance of Coltrane and Monk was extra special that night in his comping and overall playing. Let's not forget the rhythm section of Ahmed Abul-Malik on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums that drives Coltrane and Monk on their flights of soaring solo's filled with soul and emotionality. If you love jazz this is one CD you want to get as soon as you can and bask in the glory of this music by these two giants of jazz that no one knew had ever been recorded.
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