The Best of Thelonious Monk: The Blue Note Years

Blue Note was the first company to give Thelonious Monk the opportunity to record as a leader, and he brought many of his great compositions to these 1947-52 sessions for their first recordings, with groups that included gifted and sympathetic players like drummer Art Blakey and vibraphonist Milt Jackson. This CD's 15 selections contain classic early renditions of the great ballads like "Ruby My Dear" and "'Round Midnight," as well as then-exotic pieces like "Epistrophy" and "Straight, No Chaser" that have since become standard jazz repertoire. Originally released as 78 rpm records, these compressed renditions highlight Monk's innovative structures. This is a distillation of the four-CD Complete Blue Note Recordings, which generously covers this entire, fertile early period. --Stuart Broomer