Good Lord Is This A Good Album

One of the many excellent Xmas gifts my mom got me this year was the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall [LIVE] CD. My mom usually steers away from buying me music for Xmas, but this year she took the plunge.

Well, this CD, recorded at Carnegie Hall on November 29th, 1957 is simply amazing. According to reports, this album was accidentally discovered in an unmarked box by a Library of Congress engineer early in 2005. Before this recording was found there have only been three studio tracks that the two worked on together. The live sound quality is fine for me since I'm not much of an audiophile, and I always love hearing the size of the crowd based on their applause at the end of the tracks. It always makes the music seem more real.


Monk and Coltrane simply scorch through the set, and the duets between them are like finely woven silk for the ears. The way that each player seems to push the other after each solo exemplifies what makes great Jazz improvisation. Reading a little further in to this historic night, one learns that the other groups on the bill for the show (a benefit for the Morningside Community Center) were Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra, Ray Charles, and Sonny Rollins.....

....Um, yeah, you could say it was a decent night at Carnegie. If you are a fan of Jazz, Monk, Coltrane or all three, this is must have for your collection. There is absolutely no way you will be disappointed by this recording.




Thanks again Mom!