All served to brand him an outsider. A trumped-up charge for drug possession he took the rap for Powell didn't help, either, as it deprived Monk of his New York cabaret license in , forcing him to seek work in Brooklyn and elsewhere for six years.
He was also forced to rely on the freely offered financial assistance of his patron, Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter. Blue Note's Alfred Lion paid no mind to critics. He believed in Monk and recorded him extensively between and and again in and Soon after that first recording session, Monk married Nellie Smith , who gave birth to his two children Barbara and T.
Monk II. In , Prestige sold his contract to Riverside where he released Plays the Music of Duke Ellington to appease the label. By , Monk had come into his own with Brilliant Corners , considered to be his first masterpiece due in part to its complex title track.
It proved so technically demanding and harmonically complex that the album version had to be edited together from separate takes. In , he recorded Mulligan Meets Monk with Gerry Mulligan ; the release helped expose him to a wider audience. With the Riverside release of the solo Thelonious Himself and Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane , the artist received belated but well-deserved acclaim.
Monk also worked with classical composer Hall Overton to present his music orchestrally for 's At Town Hall. The pianist signed to Columbia in late and toured Europe for the first time with a quartet that included saxophonist Charlie Rouse , drummer Frankie Dunlop , and bassist John Ore.
They both charted and were received enthusiastically by critics. In , Monk , at the peak of his popularity, appeared on the cover of Time Magazine: He is one of only five jazz musicians to have done so. It's one of the artist's most unjustly underrated offerings, and it's still a radical album. Critics complained that he wasn't writing new music, but Monk re-recorded tunes to reinvigorate them using fresh harmonic and rhythmic approaches.
His approach to standards here was to strip them to basic harmonies and rhythms then rebuild them in his own musical image.
In , the release of Solo Monk appeased them. A standout in his catalog, most of its sides were cut during breaks on a West Coast quartet tour in October and November. The jaunt netted two masterful live quartet releases as well: Live at the It Club and Live at the Jazz Workshop unreleased until the '80s.
Jazz was losing its place of import. Still, Monk continued to record and tour for the label. In , Monk had also signed with Columbia records, one of the biggest labels in the world, and in February of he became the third jazz musician in history to grace the cover of Time Magazine. Stories of his behavior on and off the bandstand often overshadowed serious commentary about his music.
Indeed, his reputation as a recluse Time called him the "loneliest Monk" reveals just how much Monk had been misunderstood. As his former sideman, tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, explained, Monk was somewhat of a homebody: "If Monk isn't working he isn't on the scene.
Monk stays home. He goes away and rests. In January of , Charlie Rouse left the band, and two years later Columbia quietly dropped Monk from its roster.
For the next few years, Monk accepted fewer engagements and recorded even less. Monk, took over on drums in His December concert at New York's Philharmonic Hall, a big-band presentation of originals, was for him a personal landmark.
In the early s Monk made a few solo and trio recordings for Black Lion in London and played a few concerts. Beginning in the mids he isolated himself from his friends and colleagues, spending his final years at the home of the Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter in Weehawken, New Jersey.
After playing a concert at Carnegie Hall in March , Monk was too weak physically to make further appearances. He died on February 17, , in Englewood Hospital, after suffering a massive stroke. Along with Miles Davis — and John Coltrane — , Monk is remembered as one of the most influential figures in modern jazz.
The music Monk left behind remains as some of the most innovative and unique material in all of music, jazz or otherwise. De Wilde, Laurent. New York: Marlowe, Fitterling, Thomas. Thelonious Monk: His Life and Music. Giddins, Gary. New York: Oxford University Press, Gourse, Leslie. Whatever Monk was to the media, it's clear what his legacy will be to jazz music: that of a true originator. Monk probably said it best when he insisted that a "genius is one who is most like himself.
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