Customer Reviews
Perfection - Monk's private sonic world - By: Mykool, 03 Mar 2007 
Monk was weird. This collection of solo recordingsin the 1960s shows him to be out of step with the age & all the more contemporary because of it. Whilst his contemporaries were raging & screeching, here's Monk recording some well-known & totally obscure songs from the 20s & 30sin the apparently hopelessly outdated stride piano style. Yet Monk makes it sound vital, through reharmonisation & wonderful improvising, that genuinely sticks to what is written but transforms it into something better. "I Should Care" for example is reduced down to a few components but sounds as complete & satisfying as a symphony. When I bought this 7 or 8 years ago, I listened to it almost endlessly for months. One critic said with Monk you enter "a private sonic world." That's it exactly.
One of the most beautiful collections of music ever - By: , 31 Jan 2002 I listened to this album whilst convalescing after illness, having spotted it (shame!)in a second hand shop. This is a beautiful collection of timelessly affecting music which manages to be both immensely challenging & quietly soothing (trust me!).
Every jazz collection should contain this album
