Here’s a fascinating video of Thelonious Monk playing one of his famous tunes, “Blue Monk”, which he originally recorded in 1954. In this video of “Blue Monk”, apparently recorded in Oslo, Norway in 1966, you can clearly see Thelonious Monk’s unusual and unorthodox style of hammering the piano, combined with “abrupt, dramatic use of silence and hesitations”; a style his wife Nellie dubbed “Melodious Thunk”. In some sections it appears that he’s lost — his improvisation was so far out on the edge — the cliff hanging drama of a live jazz recording.

This video features Monk on the piano,  Charlie Rouse on the tenor saxaphone, Larry Gales on the big string bass, and Ben Riley on the drums.

Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917-1982) is one of the most important musicians in Jazz, and “Blue Monk” is considered a jazz standard. A jazz standard is a tune that’s widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians as part of the standard jazz musical repertoire.

Monk appeared on the cover of Time magazine back in 1964, so perhaps that milestone in the 60′s marks the pinnacle of his career.

“Blue Monk” was Monk’s favorite composition as evidenced by the fact that he recorded it many times.  It has become one of his most enduring tunes, and it’s been played and recorded by many other jazz artists over the years.