Clint Eastwood really did well with this film. FAQ The musical crosstalk between Monk and Charlie Rouse (tenor sax) is vividly captured. Publication date 1967 Usage Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International Topics Jazz Language English. The movie doesn't go into detail about this gradual process, and for that in a way I am grateful, because his music puts us in our own mood for reverie, not diagnosis. As a jazz fan, it's like seeing a figure who intuitively knows the beats, the rhythms, and lays in his own interpretations of where and how these rhythms can be changed and modified for a particular, unique form in the realm of music. There is a shot in this movie of Monk in an airport somewhere, turning around and around in the same place, engrossed in this repetition as if it were some kind of meditation. It looked much more ominous than his description. The musical crosstalk between Monk and Charlie Rouse (tenor sax) is vividly captured. Recorded live in Tokyo, this LP captures the quartet on their first Asian tour, performing mostly … ... and i love thelonious monk. Directed by Charlotte Zwerin. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/thelonious-monk/straight-no-chaser-1 This is a documentary but almost a straight concert, featuring jazz pianist who performed mainly in the 1950s and 1960s and is a legend in music circles. This time it exclusively focuses on one artist who was in that Newport show, directed by Charlotte Zwerin it's Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser. Apart from typical format of 'talking heads' of the genre master (John Coltrane), collaborators, figures from music business and Thelonius, Jr., there is shown small but intense piece of the musician's life: in the studio, on the road, during live concerts. As a documentary of little value. But the film has a serious flaw. Read the Empire Movie review of Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser . The film I will be reviewing is the documentary Thelonious Monk Straight No Chaser. Edit Release All Versions of this Release New Submission . If for no one else the film is a must for jazz fans and musicians (it was produced by Clint Eastwood). We can sense there is something wrong here, and unless we know the life history of Monk we don't know what it is. I knew nothing of this musician before seeing the documentary. Read 6 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. A documentary film about the life of pianist and jazz great Thelonious Sphere Monk. The album was reissued on CD in 1996, including restored versions of previously abridged performances and three additional tracks. A documentary not just about Thelonius Monk and what made him tick, but also the bands he worked with and other famous musicians. He did not play jazz anymore, but when friends would come over to play, they knew he could still listen, because he would leave the door of his room open. It shows the deep devotion of his wife Nellie, and others who helped him, and finally, how he sank into his illness before he died. Straight No Chaser is a masterpiece. If you were ever curious about Thelonius Monk, the incomparable and (really) inimitable jazz pianist, this should answer most of your questions, at least about his mature years. Proper Records: 2:57 The song, a traditional blues with a wobbly melody that loops… | A New York Times review claims it as "some of the most valuable jazz ever shot" as the close up shots of Monk's hands on the piano reveals his unusual technique. [font=Century Gothic]"Thelonious Monk - Straight, No Chaser" is an interesting and entertaining documentary about the innovative jazz musician, Thelonious Monk, and his music. Thelonius Monk is portrayed as an artist both blessed and cursed just by his genius. He was in fact a genuine, hard-working artist trying to make ends meet. No one in the movie actually admits he was schizophrenic, but it seems pretty obvious and to me, makes him even more of a genius--that he could write and perform despite his disability. Japanese Folk Song 6. What the film gave me was an opportunity to see Thelonious Monk creating some of it, and, just as importantly, an opportunity to see how those who knew him loved him. Combine that with the fact that these bands and musicians represent the most important and significant change in Jazz, perhaps in all music, and you get some idea of how colossal this film is. | This documentary is not an invitation to join them, it is absolutely not meant for 'outsiders'. 3. Released 20 March 1967 on Columbia (catalog no. It was a shock to see Monk doing what my friend described so long before. By mid-film — no doubt as a conscious parallel to real-life events — Monk's illness has taken over Straight No Chaser, to the degree that the viewer watches him play the piano in a state of utter suspense: The music itself sounds like it's about to go off the rails. [Some reissues add a studio take of "Straight, No Chaser" as a bonus track.] Features live performances by Monk and his band, and interviews with … This film is a documentary of the late Thelonious Monk born on October 10, 1917 in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, who moved to Manhattan, New York, at the age of four. Perhaps interesting if you like the music. Straight, No Chaser by Thelonious Monk. So many of us would instantly put a name to it when we hear Round Midnight for example, but really wouldn't be able to talk much about the man himself as "proper" fans would. Although I love Monk's work with John Coltrane, I believe that this is his warmest, most accessible album. Song information for Straight No Chaser - Thelonious Monk on AllMusic. The film I will be reviewing is the documentary Thelonious Monk Straight No Chaser. He's almost in his own sort of world, but one that can tune into things that most musicians would never ever think of tapping into. Luckily, there is plenty here of the latter. Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser was first shown at the New York film Festival in October 1989 and opened to strong reviews. This is a new movie, but the footage of Monk in it is more than 20 years old, shot for German TV by Christian Blackwood in 1967 and 1968. This film is a documentary of the late Thelonious Monk born on October 10, 1917 in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, who moved to Manhattan, New York, at the age of four. And trademark exotic hats (could anyone else in the 20th century look cool in that historic Polish head thingy?). It is simply sublime, actually. Even though I knew enough about Thelonius Monk before watching Straight, No Chaser- mostly from the Ken Burns Jazz documentary- I never would have expected the guy to be like this. Chamber, suggestive film in black and white about an extraordinary man. Thank you so much, Charlotte Zwerin, for making this paean to Monk. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser at Amazon.com. He gathered other geniuses around him - John Coltrane was a member of his Blue Note band in the late 1950s - and he traveled, recorded, played, composed, jammed, inspired and produced music that changed forever the way that modern jazz sounds. The band featured here includes: Monk (piano), Charlie Rouse (tenor sax), Ben Riley (drums), and Larry Gales (bass). "Straight, No Chaser" was released on Columbia Records in 1967. 3. Thelonious Monk's "Straight, No Chaser" is one of those few. Japanese Folk Song 6. The movie never does put a name to Monk's condition, but by the end of the film enough people who loved him have made enough references to it that we know what we need to know: He went gradually and rather stoically mad. Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. This movie is so incredible because I had not been lucky enough to have seen him before he died, and when I saw the movie I was moved to tears. Straight, No Chaser: Thelonious Monk is a fine primer as well as audio documentary. I suggest music lovers of all kind to watch this movie. User Ratings Throughout the late ’40s and early ’50s pianist, Thelonious Monk recorded a series of sessions for Blue Note Records to be released as 78-rpm singles. Straight, No Chaser 4. This was sort of what attracted me to this film because I was interested to know a little bit more about the guy. Straight, No Chaser is an album by jazz musician Thelonious Monk, released in 1967. Straight, No Chaser book. Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser ... 2014: Sell This Version: Reviews Add Review [r15512557] Release. It portrays the great and legendary playing and composing of Thelonious Monk and also his hard time during his life. He was also a family man. It is both a good and a bad thing that this film doesn't do that particularly, since it is not really a documentary in terms of having lots of facts and insight thrown at you. The TV Homages of WandaVision are an Amusing, Unfulfilling Distraction, On the Disempowerment of Promising Young Woman, Entertaining 30 Coins Examines Depths of Evil with Style. "I Didn't Know About You" is brush drums, bass and piano and is smoothly atmospheric. "The high priest of bebop," one of the most brilliant jazz composers of all time, Thelonious Monk absolutely gave no fucks whatsoever about what you wanted his music, performance, or look to be. Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (Straight, No Chaser ) Reviews. The mental illness, whatever it was, must have begun many years earlier. Thelonious Monk is the most important musician ever produced by this country. Discover releases, reviews, track listings, recommendations, and more about Thelonious Monk - Straight No Chaser (Music From The Motion Picture) at Discogs. We can sense there is something wrong here, and unless we know the life history of Monk we don't know … The facts in the life of the virtuoso jazz pianist are somewhat neglected in favor of the music itself, with most of the film devoted to various live performances and rare, behind-the-stage rehearsal footage. There is no mention of the 1959 Town Hall Concert, painstakingly reconstructed in 2009 by MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran. CL 2651; Vinyl LP). "I Didn't Know About You" is brush drums, bass and piano and is smoothly atmospheric. Straight, No Chaser by Thelonious Monk (Album, Post-Bop): Reviews, Ratings, Credits, Song list - Rate Your Music Straight, No Chaser, an Album by Thelonious Monk. Using the Blackwood footage of Monk as their foundation, Ricker and documentarian Charlotte Zwerin began tracking down the survivors who knew Monk best: his son; his tenor sax player, Charles Rouse; his manager; his road manager, and Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter, who appeared in Monk's life at about the time his wife was near exhaustion with the effort of dealing with him and seems to have shared both the effort and the man with her. His genius was that of a kind of strange maverick who used the piano like one of the surrealist painters, in a style that would be furthered along in the horn section by Coltrane and the avant-garde jazz scene, where the tempo is not one easily distinguishable. He played the piano as if he knew exactly what every note should mean and be, and had known it for a long time. Straight, No Chaser 4. How important it is to the fans is shown by the high average vote it got before I voted. Two decades passed before the by-now forgotten footage was mentioned by Blackwood to Bruce Ricker, whose "Last of the Blue Devils" (1980) was a landmark documentary about Kansas City jazz. | If you are not very familiar with Monk, you may not recognize the title, but if you have ever found yourself in a bar with a good jukebox, you will recognize the music. Metacritic Reviews. As a jazz musician myself I have yet to see a film which captures the true essence of not just being Thelonious, but being a jazz musician in general. And a note about unusual, long-lasting friendship between Thelonius and Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter. 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