“Round About Midnight”

I’ve learned a lot through Facebook. Sometimes there’s too much personal information, but some posts are quite interesting. For example, someone recently posted a YouTube recording of Thelonius Monk. The only Monk I knew of was the obsessive – compulsive detective on t.v., and it was clear from the photo that it was not him; so, always the student, I just had to check it out.

Monk was a jazz pianist (1917-1982) who composed seventy pieces making him the second most prolific jazz composer next to Duke Ellington who wrote over one thousand pieces. He was born in North Carolina which makes some Carolinians very proud. Five years later, his family moved to Manhattan. He started playing piano at age six and basically taught himself. After listening to the link, some readers will smile and say, “Well, that explains it.”

The piece that I listened to is called “Round About Midnight.” One YouTube listener commented that “He sounds as if he is constantly chasing a note that isn’t there. Listening to him is like listening to a journey; it’s like a game. You can hear his active effort searching for the song rather than just passively playing the right notes in the right places.” Monk said, “The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.” Obviously, his music and his grammar ignored the rules as he colored outside the lines.

Wikipedia says that “his compositions and improvisations are full of dissonant harmonies and angular melodic twists, and are consistent with Monk’s unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of silences and hesitations. Since this was not a style universally appreciated, poet and jazz critic Philip Larkin dismissed Monk as “the elephant on the keyboard.”

I don’t listen to jazz very often, but I like it well enough. I especially like it when Keith is the one playing the bass. (Truth be told, I like any kind of music that Keith is playing.) Keith, Todd and Levi are a great jazz trio. (Playing for a wedding at the Biltmore House was a highlight.) But, I digress. As I was saying, I like jazz. Nevertheless, I have to admit I cringed during the first few “measures?” Monk played. It did, in fact, sound like an “elephant on the piano.” But the longer I listened, the more it grew on me. Approaching the music with the idea that Monk was on “a musical journey searching for the song” actually drew me into the journey and allowed me to enjoy it.

Thank you, Thelonius Monk, for broadening my musical horizons. I don’t ever want to get stuck or be stagnant, not in music, not in any part of my life.

Life is Grand

Joann