Thelonious Monk - At The It Club

Mastered at AcousTech by Kevin Gray & pressed at RTI.

The Thelonious Monk Quartet with Charlie Rouse lasted 11 years. October 31 and November 1, 1964 at the It Club in Los Angeles showcase Monk at particular high point pianistically; in fact, he went into a Los Angeles studio and recorded the album Solo Monk on the afternoons preceding and following the live taping. He is in full force throughout, but his playing is particularly superb on the standards "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" and the previously unreleased "Sweet And Lovely."

The band plays standards, many of Monk's famous tunes, a few lesser known items like "Gallop's Gallop" and "Blues Five Spot" and the recent compositions "Teo" and "Bright Mississippi." Propelled by Gales and Riley, Monk and Rouse deliver amazing 10-minute excursions on such Monk classics as "Nutty," "Rhythm-a-ning" and "Blue Monk."

Rouse in his sixth year with Monk had hit his stride, truly becoming Monk's musical alter ego. Remarkably, drummer Ben Riley had joined the quartet at the beginning of 1964 and bassist Larry Gales had only logged in a month at the time of this taping; yet they already show the first signs of collective greatness on these evenings.

Mosaic has returned to the original three-track tapes and mixed them down to beautiful sounding analog stereo masters, presenting the six sets they played that night as they happened.