Monk Biz
Without music, life would be a mistake.
Nietzsche
Like the English poet Thomas Love Peacock, a name like Thelonius Sphere Monk almost guaranteed that the man who owned it was destined for great things. The vision came early; the fame took a little longer. Acclaim for his magnificent, angular compositions was accompanied by demands to work harder, a pressure that the sensitive Monk probably could not cope with successfully. He drank and took drugs (prescribed as well as recreational) all his life. Such a lifestyle, combined with a diagnosed mental condition, ensured there was always a hovering darkness in his life.
But the joy of his music remains. Delicate, poignant, playful – all of these things and more. Monk was the jester of jazz, but like all classic fools he owned a wisdom far greater than most of us. A penchant for wearing hats of many bewildering styles, gave him a distinctive aura when he performed. He was given to vacating the piano stool and dancing about the stage, ostensibly to encourage his band to recognise the rhythmic cadences that his music demanded.
Like all great originators, he was misunderstood and ridiculed. The faithful knew better, those who loved his music whooped and hollered when they heard him play. Monk gave all, he never short-changed his devotees. That intensely kinetic genius produced music that always fired on all six cylinders. To be a sidesman with Monk was demanding. The concentration required bordered on a state of neurosis.
Monk could not have continued as long as he did without the support of his wife Nellie, his family and friends and his lifelong companion Nica. It was not a one-way street either, Monk gave as much to them, and he also cared deeply about his musical colleagues. He fought with Miles Davis, but so did everybody else, and he made up with him too.
Monk was a fighter. He had many a brush with the police and it was no coincidence that their attitude to him was tempered by his being black. Jazz musicians were always treated with suspicion by ‘whitey’ even into the 1970s.
We must be grateful that his legacy is there for all to hear in his music. He is a visual performer too; the dynamo of energy is switched on and never stops until he leaves the bandstand. All hail Mister Monk, master of magical music!
~o00o~