Everything Is Happening All the Time

There is a phrase Thelonious Monk used to repeat, almost like a mantra. His son TS Monk recalls it clearly: Everything is happening all the time. It explained why Monk changed his clothes three or four times a day. Why he never played the same composition the same way twice. Why he could spend an entire month working on a single passage not because it was not right, but because it could always become something more.

Monk Live in Paris 1967 is that philosophy made audible.

Live recordings occupy a different space than studio albums. They are not documents. They are rooms. And Monk, more than almost any other musician in jazz history, was someone whose genius expanded in the presence of an audience. TS Monk, who performed alongside his father in the final years of his career, offers a key for listening. Pay attention to what Thelonious plays when he is not soloing, when another musician holds the front of the stage. That is where the real teaching happens. That is why Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Sonny Rollins all said that playing with Monk changed the way they heard music forever. He was, as TS put it, the composer who held the key that opened the doors for a whole generation.

This conversation with TS Monk, made possible through the generosity of the Monk Estate, was originally published on Wiki Jazz. It is reproduced here for listeners coming to this music now, perhaps for the first time.

There is no better place to start.

Andrea Ranalletta
Founder, Wiki

Q1. Palo Alto reached the public decades after it was recorded and was received as a true revelation. Monk Live in Paris 1967 feels like it belongs to the same spirit, a live moment that deserved to be heard. How does the Estate think about this kind of work, and what does it mean to you personally to keep bringing these moments back into the light?

Monk Live in Paris 1967 is very much in the spirit of the Palo Alto recording. Thelonious Monk was truly a live artist in every sense of the word. Given that he was to a certain degree under recorded and underrated by critics, he put his greatest efforts into his live performances because that is what he was allowed to do more than anything else. Personally I am truly enjoying and the estate is truly enjoying bringing these moments to light because Thelonious did not get a chance to fully show his work. I am 76 years old now. My father died at 63. I cannot imagine having died 13 years ago because I have had an opportunity to do so much in the 13 ensuing years between my fathers age and my own. The opportunity to bring these recordings to light is as exciting for me as it is for Monk fans. We in the Monk Estate feel it is a true privilege to be able not only to preserve but also to expand the legacy Thelonious Monk left behind.

Q2. When you think about your father outside of the stage what is the first image or feeling that comes to mind?

The first thing I think of about my father outside of the stage is being maybe two or three years old sleeping in the bed with my parents and crawling down to the end of the bed to bang on the upright piano there because the bedroom was so small there was not room for a piano stool so he would sit on the bed to play. I would wake up as babies do at two or three in the morning crawl to the end of the bed and start banging on the piano. I also remember he seemed really big to me. He used to put me on his shoulders and walk up the block on 63rd Street. Everyone would say Hey Monk and I would be on his shoulders having a ball.

Q3. There is often so much written about Monk as a figure but less about the quieter everyday moments. Is there something small a habit a gesture a way he moved through the day that has stayed with you over time?

When Thelonious was not performing or composing at the piano and I was very young he was playing basketball or ping pong or he was in the pool hall. He was an extraordinary pool and billiards player. He had a habit of changing clothes three or four times a day whether or not he was performing. He just liked to be sharp. He always said everything is happening all the time so he was changing all the time. The way he would play his music differently on so many recordings reflected that. There was also a steam pipe right outside our apartment door and a hallway with mosaic tiles and a big star at the front. When he left the house he would tap the pipe with his ring because it had a beautiful ring to it then he would walk down the hall and spin on the star before leaving the building. It was eccentric but very consistent. He also spent a lot of time watching Laurel and Hardy on television and playing Yahtzee with my mother for hours. I also remember when he was not working seeing him do the Mr Dad things changing diapers making breakfast feeding my sister. He would pour a glass of milk break an egg into it and offer it to me then laugh and

Q4. You have spoken before about how different it is to experience the music in the room. Do you remember what it felt like to be around him while he was playing or thinking through an idea even informally?

Having performed with Thelonious for the last five years of his career was an extraordinary experience. What I truly remember is him writing at home spending hours perfecting a composition. He never practiced playing the piano he practiced performing so the performance in a club or concert was the same as at home. He was extraordinarily meticulous in thinking through his ideas and could spend a month working on a particular passage. He would go on and on and even when food was placed beside him he would not stop. I remember him working on one of the compositions on Monk Live in Paris. At the time I did not understand it but later you realize it was modern thinking. Monk was the high priest of bebop but also the father of modern jazz because he opened the door for so many musicians.

Q5. For listeners coming to these live recordings now what do you hope they are able to hear or feel that might not come across in a studio setting?

I may be biased but I will say it. Thelonious Monk catalog of compositions is the greatest collection of improvisational vehicles in the history of jazz. That is why so many of his compositions have been recorded hundreds of times. The most interesting aspect of the live recordings is what Thelonious played behind the soloists that made them sound so good. That is why musicians loved to play with him. He always had new ideas harmonically rhythmically and melodically and always kept the melody in the forefront providing a resource for improvisation.

Q6. As someone who has lived with this music in a very direct way has your relationship to it changed over time are there things you hear now that you did not notice earlier on?

When you are so close to such genius you do not really know what it is. I did not understand what my father was doing until I was about 19. I am still hearing new things in old recordings. It is astounding to listen for decades and still discover something new. All I can say is wow daddy wow.