Palo Alto
Thelonious Monk (piano), Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone), Larry Gales (bass), Ben Riley (drums)
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 25th September 2020
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2020
The concert’s backstory unspools like a modern feel-good movie: The jazz titan agreed to play a high school auditorium at the behest of eager student and future concert promoter Danny Scher,...
Palo Alto
Thelonious Monk (piano), Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone), Larry Gales (bass), Ben Riley (drums)
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 25th September 2020
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2020
The concert’s backstory unspools like a modern feel-good movie: The jazz titan agreed to play a high school auditorium at the behest of eager student and future concert promoter Danny Scher,...
About
➢ After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, racial tensions across the country rose. Palo Alto, a largely white college town in California, was not immune to the events of the day. Danny Scher, a rising junior at Palo Alto High School, had a dream to bring Thelonious Monk to Palo Alto to perform and help bring about racial unity in his community as well as raise funds for his school’s International Committee.
➢ After somehow securing Monk’s services to perform on Sunday, October 27, Scher initially had trouble selling tickets and convincing people that Monk was even going to show up.
➢ With many twists and turns along the way and several hundred people waiting in the school’s parking lot to await Monk’s arrival before purchasing tickets, the concert eventually happened and was a triumph in more ways that Monk or Scher could have imagined. This is a recording of that historic concert.
➢ The band is Thelonious Monk – piano / Charlie Rouse – tenor saxophone / Larry Gales – bass / Ben Riley – drums.
Contents and tracklist
Ruby, My Dear 7.00
Well, You Needn't 13.16
Don't Blame Me 6.36
Blue Monk 14.02
Epistrophy 4.26
I Love You Sweetheart of All My Dreams 2.02
Spotlight on this release
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Thelonious Monk Quartet at Palo Alto
25th Sep 2020
A unique window into a moment in time; the Thelonious Monk Quartet live a school hall in 1968, at a gig arranged by a 15-year-old, and recorded by the janitor! The results more than live up to the backstory.
Awards and reviews
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Presto Recording of the Week25th September 2020
-
Presto Recordings of the YearWinner 2020
January 2021
The concert’s backstory unspools like a modern feel-good movie: The jazz titan agreed to play a high school auditorium at the behest of eager student and future concert promoter Danny Scher, who, for one afternoon, managed to unite the racially divided California communities of Palo Alto and East Palo Alto through music. Monk’s playing that day was transcendent, and, more than 50 years on, it still conjures feelings of goodwill.
