Still, for all the white-knuckle intensity of the performance, it might as well have been Carnegie Hall or a high-profile international jazz festival. They may be playing a small suburban high school auditorium. On “Epistrophy”, Monk and the band seem particularly inspired as the chemistry of the foursome – already a well-known force in jazz music at the time – is positively ablaze with energy.
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Other Monk compositions are sprinkled throughout the set, including two which take advantage of their lengthy run times to allow all four members to take solos: the lively “Well You Needn’t” (in which Riley’s solo, in particular, is full of bold, jaw-dropping energy) and the playful “Blue Monk”. Opening with his own “Ruby Dear”, Monk and the band dazzle from the very start, with Rouse and Monk each taking breathtaking solos as Gales and Riley provide typically expert accompaniment. The setlist is a somewhat unsurprising one for anyone familiar with Monk’s repertoire, but that makes the music no less thrilling. Despite financial burdens and health difficulties, Monk sounded as fresh and inspired as ever while performing in front of the young Bay Area crowd. Monk was riding a critical wave by 1968 – his quartet was at a creative pinnacle, and Monk appeared on the cover of Time just four years prior. When I first heard the tape, from the first measure, I knew my father was feeling really good.” He’s absolutely right. “I wasn’t even aware of my dad playing a high school gig, but he and the band were on it. Monk, who founded the Thelonious Monk Institute. “That performance is one of the best live recordings I’ve ever heard by Thelonious,” says T.S. Monk, about releasing the set posthumously (the elder Monk passed away in 1982 at the age of 64).įor what’s essentially a bootleg recording, the sound quality of the 47-minute set from 27 October 1968 is surprisingly strong. It sat in his attic for decades before he approached Monk’s son, drummer T.S.
Adding to this already tantalizing story is that the school’s janitor recorded the performance and handed it to Scher after the show. Somehow, the stars aligned, and Monk agreed to play the gig, accompanied by his then-steady touring band of Charles Rouse (tenor saxophone), Larry Gales (bass), and Ben Riley (drums). In the fall of 1968, a 16-year-old jazz fanatic and high school student named Danny Scher had the audacious idea of inviting legendary jazz pianist Thelonious Monk to perform a show at his high school’s auditorium in Palo Alto, California. It’s a story that almost seems like a publicist dreamt it up, but it really happened.
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