Theolonius Monk - Nutty (live)

Made most famous in a quartet setting in ’58 at the legendary Five Spot (has the Five Spot ever had a different adjective?); that quartet was Griffin on tenor, Haynes on skins, and Ahmed Abdul-Malik. Compared to this group (Rouse, tenor; Riley, drums; Gales, bass), especially Griffin, the earlier group was more adept at time changes and more imaginative in soloing. They can be heard on Misterioso a pretty great collection of tunes and performances. However, this date we are watching does feature an elongated version and Gales is superb throughout. Also, it wasn’t long after this that Monk retired to his Weehawken home (built for great filmmaker Josef von Sternberg) and his Princess and her 30 cats, a mile or so from where I am as I write this reverentially. The song itself, covered by Trane, Miles, John Hicks, Sonny Fortune (and a half dozen lesser lights), first showed up in 1953, a full 6 years after his ground breaking Blue Note recordings which changed Western music. 6 years is a long time in jazz and especially in the nascent era of bebop, but “Nutty”—a sad title that prophetically conjured Monk’s mental instabilities (nearly full blown by the time of this era)—is firmly ensconced architecturally within the earlier mold, a mold that remained steady and sturdy for the 25 years after Monk sat down in ’47 and carved out the angular stride/bop masterpieces that belong on Rushmore: “Epistrophy,” “Ruby My Dear,” “In Walked Bud,” and “Round About Midnight.” There are many days when Monk is both my hero and my fave musician.