Four Columbia-era Thelonious Monk albums will be reissued August 19: Underground, Solo Monk, Criss-Cross and It’s Monk Time. These discs are stone-cold classics and it’s about time they get the 21st century reissue treatment. The last time these albums were issued on CD each had the “Columbia Jazz Masterpieces” logo on its cover, and any music listener worth his or her pair of Sennheiser HD 580 headphones can tell you: that means a disc is going to sound a little bit hurting.
But that was roughly ten years ago and reissuing has come oh so very far since then. We can rebuild these treasured discs. We have the technology to make them better than they sounded before. We have the capability to include tracks heretofore unissued. And each of these Monk discs will include three bonus tracks, except for Solo Monk, which carries an extra nine cuts not included on the original LP. Track lists follow.
The reissue news is great for Monk-o-philes, but the hardest of the hardcore Monk fans should also check out the CDs available at theloniousrecords.com, a Monk family-run Web space that has rare Thelonious for sale. The CDs are mostly live dates, but one is an unusual disc of Monk practicing the changes to “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You.” Like we said, only the Monk-crazy will dig it.
Track lists for Columbia/Legacy reissues:
Underground
Thelonious
Ugly Beauty
Raise Four
Boo Boo’s Birthday
Easy Street
Green Chimneys
In Walked Bud
Bonus tracks:
Ugly Beauty (Take 4)
Boo Boo’s Birthday (Take 2)
Thelonious (Take 3)
Criss-Cross
Hackensack
Tea for Two
Criss Cross
Eronel
Rhythm-a-Ning
Don’t Blame Me
Think of One
Crespuscle with Nellie
Pannonica
Bonus tracks:
Coming on the Hudson
Tea for Two (Take 9)
Eronel (Take 3)
It’s Monk Time
Lulu’s Back in Town
Memories of You
Stuffy Turkey
Brake’s Sake
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Shuffle Boil
Bonus tracks:
Epistrophy (Take 1)
Nice Work If You Can Get It (Take 2)
Shuffle Boil (Take 5)
Solo Monk
Dinah
I Surrender, Dear
Sweet and Lovely
North of the Sunset
Ruby, My Dear
I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)
I Hadn’t Anyone Till You
Everything Happens to Me
Monk’s Point
I Should Care
Ask Me Now
These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)
Bonus tracks:
Introspection
Darn That Dream
Dinah (Take 1)
Sweet and Lovely (Take 1)
Ruby, My Dear (Take 1)
I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You) (Take 1)
I Hadn’t Anyone Till You (Take 2)
Everything Happens to Me (Retake 1)
Ask Me Now (Take 1)