A few comments: I had heard that at one time Columbia wanted Monk to do an album of Beatles covers - bizarre as that sounds! This was the second incarnation of BST of course, it was founded by Al Kooper and he was ejected after "Child is Father to the Man". And the Hal Willner Monk tribute album "That's the Way I Feel Now" demonstrates that Monk's music can work very well in a rock context! Thanks for the interesting article on one of my jazz heroes! ... N
BTW, there's an interesting photo floating around of David Clayton Thomas from BST jamming with Frank Zappa in Toronto in that era, so those guys definitely got around!
B,S & T could have played Brilliant Corners. The "A" section would have worked with a straight 8th backbeat & the "B" section with a Blues shuffle feel. Blue Monk and Blues Bolivar Blues Are could be played as a shuffle. Little Rootie Tootie straight 8 backbeat. Etc.
Of the bands I remember from them, Blood, Sweat, and Tears would have been my choice. I’m sure those guys were all familiar with Monk. Likely listened to the Town Hall Concert.
Your right, that would be an intriguing collaboration. The Columby family were minor jazz royalty.
Thanks, Ted, for an intriguing Monk story. BS&T had recently fired lead singer Al Kooper after their first album "Child is Father to the Man" was released in 1967. Kooper lost the ongoing BS&T tug of war between the jazz guys and the rock guys (which included Columbia's execs). Bobby Columby of BS&T started searching for a new lead singer and reached out to Laura Nyro, whose 1968 album "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession" dazzled the rock/pop cognoscenti. A "tryout" was held at Cafe a Go Go in Greenwich Village and Columby thought she fit perfectly with BS&T and she also happened to record for Columbia. Negotiations followed, but Nyro's manager, young David Geffen, killed the idea. Geffen told Nyro she was going to be an enormous star, while BS&T would never make it. The irony is this was just before BS&T went on to have enormous hits with David Clayton Thomas singing "Spinning Wheel" and Nyro's "And When I Die." The "tryout" led Nyro to a brief relationship with BS&T bassist Jim Fielder. This period is detailed in the late Michelle Kort's fine biography of Nyro "Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro."
Interesting take Ted. Personally I don't think it would have worked. Monk was into his own music and knew where he wanted to go with it. I remember BS&T covered an Erik Satie piece on their second album. It was a variation on his Gymnopédies. This was around the same time that I first heard Serge Koussevitzky conduct them on one of my father's records.
I recall reading an interview with Taj Mahal in which he was asked about rumours that there had been a plan to get him and Monk in the studio together. He confirmed the rumour, but said it never gotten beyond the "how about: stage. That could have been an interesting collaboration, given Taj's family jazz roots. He was on Columbia while Monk was so I imagine that was probably another A&R approach at making Monk "relevant" to the the youth market.
I can't believe I just had that Underground Monk cover in my hands the other day showing it to a younger colleague. He was complaining about how insipid some current advertising can be (greenwashing and etc) and I mentioned that cringeworthy ads had been around for a while. I showed him a few album sleeves from the 70s that said things like "The Man Can't Bust Our Music" and "The Revolutionaries are on Columbia" plus the Monk cover. I have always found it confusing, now I laugh to think of him arriving in a limo to do the shoot. Thanks for the background!
Well, I know more about BS&T than I know about Monk, and I did not know that phrase from <em>40,000 Headmen</em> was from Monk, even though it's a favorite track of mine. But then, that album and the previous one bring in all sorts of influences. In fact, they reuse a theme from Eric Satie to start the track.
Yeah, though, I would have liked to hear that, too.
This makes me think though, that I appear to define "jazz" differently than many. I don't consider the kind of beat to be definitive as much as the process. Bring in music, and put your own spin on it, both in arrangement and in improvised solos. I guess harmonic spice is part of it, too.
For instance, I think that everything Miles played was jazz. You can call it fusion, I don't care much. But some reject it and give battle over the boundaries. Wynton Marsalis is famous for calling Miles out for not playing jazz. Christian Scott rejects the label jazz, and appears to think the label "jazz" as oppressive.
Which is fine, I love how he plays, and that's what matters. And yet, to me, I'd include it. I'd put him in the same box as Monk.
If you want to hear what BS&T may have sounded like with Laura Nyro as lead singer, check out her 1977 live album "Season of Lights," in which she fronted a jazz band featuring John Tropea on guitar, Richard Davis on bass, Mike Manieri on vibes, among others. It was a compilation from her 1976 tour in support of the studio album "Smile."
On the track 'Bitches Brew', Miles plays a few bars of "Spinning Wheel" at the six minute mark-but bites off the quote with a sour edge, as if he's dismissing the band and Columbia!
I'm not convinced that that those reviewers who didn't acknowledge Monk in his time were "smug". Maybe the reviews as a whole conveyed that tone, but the selected quotations on their own really don't. Isn't it normal to be confounded, even frustrated, with something new?
A few comments: I had heard that at one time Columbia wanted Monk to do an album of Beatles covers - bizarre as that sounds! This was the second incarnation of BST of course, it was founded by Al Kooper and he was ejected after "Child is Father to the Man". And the Hal Willner Monk tribute album "That's the Way I Feel Now" demonstrates that Monk's music can work very well in a rock context! Thanks for the interesting article on one of my jazz heroes! ... N
BTW, there's an interesting photo floating around of David Clayton Thomas from BST jamming with Frank Zappa in Toronto in that era, so those guys definitely got around!
B,S & T could have played Brilliant Corners. The "A" section would have worked with a straight 8th backbeat & the "B" section with a Blues shuffle feel. Blue Monk and Blues Bolivar Blues Are could be played as a shuffle. Little Rootie Tootie straight 8 backbeat. Etc.
Of the bands I remember from them, Blood, Sweat, and Tears would have been my choice. I’m sure those guys were all familiar with Monk. Likely listened to the Town Hall Concert.
Your right, that would be an intriguing collaboration. The Columby family were minor jazz royalty.
You can hear some great rock versions of Monk tunes on the Hal Wilner all-star compilation “That’s the Way I Feel Now.” Most of the tracks work great!
1 Reflections - Steve Kahn
2 Ask Me Now - Steve Lacy
3 Brilliant Corners - Mark Bingham
4 Monk's Mood - Sharon Freeman
5 Pannonica - Barry Harris
6 Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are - Was (Not Was)
7 Four in One - Todd Rundgren
8 'Round Midnight - Joe Jackson
9 Evidence - Elvin Jones, Steve Lacy
10 Work - Peter Frampton, Chris Spedding
11 Functional - Randy Weston
12 Misterioso - Carla Bley
13 Bemsha Swing - Gil Evans, Steve Lacy
Thanks, Ted, for an intriguing Monk story. BS&T had recently fired lead singer Al Kooper after their first album "Child is Father to the Man" was released in 1967. Kooper lost the ongoing BS&T tug of war between the jazz guys and the rock guys (which included Columbia's execs). Bobby Columby of BS&T started searching for a new lead singer and reached out to Laura Nyro, whose 1968 album "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession" dazzled the rock/pop cognoscenti. A "tryout" was held at Cafe a Go Go in Greenwich Village and Columby thought she fit perfectly with BS&T and she also happened to record for Columbia. Negotiations followed, but Nyro's manager, young David Geffen, killed the idea. Geffen told Nyro she was going to be an enormous star, while BS&T would never make it. The irony is this was just before BS&T went on to have enormous hits with David Clayton Thomas singing "Spinning Wheel" and Nyro's "And When I Die." The "tryout" led Nyro to a brief relationship with BS&T bassist Jim Fielder. This period is detailed in the late Michelle Kort's fine biography of Nyro "Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro."
Interesting take Ted. Personally I don't think it would have worked. Monk was into his own music and knew where he wanted to go with it. I remember BS&T covered an Erik Satie piece on their second album. It was a variation on his Gymnopédies. This was around the same time that I first heard Serge Koussevitzky conduct them on one of my father's records.
I recall reading an interview with Taj Mahal in which he was asked about rumours that there had been a plan to get him and Monk in the studio together. He confirmed the rumour, but said it never gotten beyond the "how about: stage. That could have been an interesting collaboration, given Taj's family jazz roots. He was on Columbia while Monk was so I imagine that was probably another A&R approach at making Monk "relevant" to the the youth market.
I can't believe I just had that Underground Monk cover in my hands the other day showing it to a younger colleague. He was complaining about how insipid some current advertising can be (greenwashing and etc) and I mentioned that cringeworthy ads had been around for a while. I showed him a few album sleeves from the 70s that said things like "The Man Can't Bust Our Music" and "The Revolutionaries are on Columbia" plus the Monk cover. I have always found it confusing, now I laugh to think of him arriving in a limo to do the shoot. Thanks for the background!
You might have mentioned that the Brecker Bros. were playing with BST at the time.
Well, I know more about BS&T than I know about Monk, and I did not know that phrase from <em>40,000 Headmen</em> was from Monk, even though it's a favorite track of mine. But then, that album and the previous one bring in all sorts of influences. In fact, they reuse a theme from Eric Satie to start the track.
Yeah, though, I would have liked to hear that, too.
This makes me think though, that I appear to define "jazz" differently than many. I don't consider the kind of beat to be definitive as much as the process. Bring in music, and put your own spin on it, both in arrangement and in improvised solos. I guess harmonic spice is part of it, too.
For instance, I think that everything Miles played was jazz. You can call it fusion, I don't care much. But some reject it and give battle over the boundaries. Wynton Marsalis is famous for calling Miles out for not playing jazz. Christian Scott rejects the label jazz, and appears to think the label "jazz" as oppressive.
Which is fine, I love how he plays, and that's what matters. And yet, to me, I'd include it. I'd put him in the same box as Monk.
If you want to hear what BS&T may have sounded like with Laura Nyro as lead singer, check out her 1977 live album "Season of Lights," in which she fronted a jazz band featuring John Tropea on guitar, Richard Davis on bass, Mike Manieri on vibes, among others. It was a compilation from her 1976 tour in support of the studio album "Smile."
On the track 'Bitches Brew', Miles plays a few bars of "Spinning Wheel" at the six minute mark-but bites off the quote with a sour edge, as if he's dismissing the band and Columbia!
Allen Miche,
Thanks for the heads up regarding “That’s how I Feel.” At least some of the tracks are on YouTube!!
I'm not convinced that that those reviewers who didn't acknowledge Monk in his time were "smug". Maybe the reviews as a whole conveyed that tone, but the selected quotations on their own really don't. Isn't it normal to be confounded, even frustrated, with something new?
Terry Adams of NRBQ put out a pretty good album of Monk songs, including a great country/R&B take on "Straight No Chaser."