OCTOBER 24

       THELONIOUS MONK

           Trio Session

            Recording Date:
                October 24, 1947

                WOR Studios, NYC

           Personnel:
               Thelonious Monk P
               Gene Ramey       B
               Art Blakey          D

        LINK

Nice Work If You Can Get It

Ruby, My Dear (aka Manhattan Moods)-A beautiful ballad and one of Monk’s best known compositions, it was written originally for his then girlfriend, Ruby Richardson. Monk was probably still a teenager when he composed “Ruby, My Dear.”

Well You Needn’t-First recorded for Blue Note (549) on October 24, 1947, it is one of Monk’s most recorded and most popular tunes, and a very good example of Monk’s penchant for chromatic harmonic motion.

April in Paris

Off Minor (aka What Now)-Was actually first recorded in January of 1947, but not by Monk. Bud Powell was the first to put “Off Minor” on wax when he was with Cootie Williams’s Orchestra. Monk first recorded it on October 24, 1947 (Blue Note ). Also, Dizzy Gillespie’s big band had intended on using it in their book. It stands among Monk’s more frequently recorded tunes. It is so named probably because it is written in G minor but never resolves on the tonic.

Introspection (aka Playhouse)-Originally titled “Playhouse” as a tribute to Minton’s, this song was first recorded for Blue Note on October 24, 1947, but was not released until 1956! Monk wrote it during his association with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band and Walter Gil Fuller wrote an arrangement of “Playhouse,” but there is no record of the band recording it, let alone playing it. It’s unusual thirty-six bar structure and wandering chord progressions set it apart from the music identified as “bebop.”