Released 1963 Monk's Dream(1962) Criss Cross(1962) | Length 47:02 Release date 1963 | |
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Recorded Oct. 31, Nov. 1, 2 & 6, 1962Columbia 30th Street Studio, NY Similar Brilliant Corners, Underground, Thelonious Monk Quartet w, Thelonious Alone in San Fran, Criss‑Cross | ||
Monk's Dream is the first album jazz musician Thelonious Monk released on Columbia Records. It was issued in 1963.
Contents
"Bye-Ya" and "Bolivar Blues" were recorded on October 31, 1962; "Body and Soul" and "Bright Mississippi" on November 1; "Sweet and Lovely", "Just a Gigolo" and "Monk's Dream" on November 2; and "Five Spot Blues" on November 6.
"Bright Mississippi" is the only track on the album that Monk had not previously recorded.
"Bolivar Blues" was originally titled "Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are", and had been on Monk's 1957 Riverside album, Brilliant Corners.
"Five Spot Blues" was originally called "Blues Five Spot" and had first appeared on the album Misterioso, which was recorded live at the Five Spot Cafe in New York in 1958 and released on Riverside.
"Monk's Dream", "Bye-Ya", and "Sweet and Lovely" had also been previously recorded by Monk for Prestige Records at a session ten years earlier.
Reception
Jazz critic Pete Welding wrote in his five-star review that appeared in the March 14, 1963 issue of Down Beat magazine (that) "This important album, Monk's first after a long absence from the recording studio, is a stunning reaffirmation of his powers as a performer and composer."
Track listing
All compositions by Thelonious Monk except as indicated.
Side one
- "Monk's Dream" – 6:26
- "Body and Soul" (Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton and Johnny Green) – 4:29
- "Bright Mississippi" – 8:34
- "Five Spot Blues" – 3:15
Side two
- "Bolivar Blues" – 6:25
- "Just a Gigolo" (Julius Brammer, Irving Caesar, Leonello Casucci) – 2:29
- "Bye-Ya" – 6:01
- "Sweet and Lovely" (Gus Arnheim, Harry Tobias, Jules LeMare) – 7:48
Personnel
Songs
1Monk's Dream6:26
2Body and Soul4:30
3Bright Mississippi8:38