‘Monk on Monk’ Gets the Mythic Just Right

What would have been Thelonious Monk’s 80th birthday received an enthusiastic celebration Friday night at the Veterans Wadsworth Theater. A 10-piece ensemble led by drummer Thelonious Monk Jr. spent the evening exploring a program, “Monk on Monk,” completely devoted to the music of one of jazz’s most vital, influential artists.

The program included a full range of Monk pieces--from “Evidence,” and “Little Rootie Tootie” to “Bye Ya,” “Jackie-ing” and “Crepuscule With Nellie.” The ensemble playing, even in works as thorny as the rapid-fire “Four in One,” was first-rate. Singer Nnenna Freelon added some attractive, Sarah Vaughan-tinged vocals on “Ruby, My Dear” and “ ‘Round Midnight” and scatted effectively on “In Walked Bud” (retitled “Suddenly” in a new version with lyrics by Jon Hendricks).

Good stuff, all of it, with almost every number underscoring and confirming the breadth and scope of Monk’s creative imagination. Not only did he compose music filled with instantly recognizable themes, but he did so in a startling array of styles. At some point or other in the evening, traces of stride style, blues, bebop and sheer balladry poured through the music. Perhaps most important of all, there was an utter individuality to all of it, never leaving the slightest doubt that this was Monk music.

The players worked hard to make it happen, performing extremely difficult scores with an energy that drew repeated applause from the full-house audience. Among the numerous soloists, alto saxophonist Bobby Watson, tenor and soprano saxophonist Willie Williams, trumpeter Don Sickler and pianist Ronnie Matthews were standouts.

Were there problems with the performance? A few. It was ironic, for example, that Monk Jr. made a point of identifying his father not simply as the “High Priest of Bebop” but also as “The Father of Modern Jazz” and then proceeded to lead Monk tunes that were filled with bebop-based soloing.

There was, in addition, the nature of the connection between the soloing and the compositions.

It’s common for jazz ensembles to play an opening theme and then abandon it for improvisations based upon the harmonies of that theme. But Monk’s works, far more than themes and melodies, are precisely notated pieces in which chordal placements, melodic accents and rhythms are all extremely specific. Compositions such as these demand improvisations that reach beyond the chordal structures. And too often, the “Monk on Monk” musicians chose to abandon the intricacies of the Monk compositions in favor of stretched-out, essentially unrelated choruses based solely on the works’ harmonies.

Still, those carps aside, it was good to have a full evening dedicated to these superb works (“Monk on Monk” is also available on N2K Records). Somewhere, one suspects, Monk--who died in 1982 at 64--was listening, doing his trademark little dance, happily grooving with the music.