• I learned that Thelonious Monk is the second-most recorded jazz composer. Duke Ellington, (no surprise) is number one.
• Great quote from Dave Douglas about an artist’s relationship with Monk’s music:
“The first few times I heard Monk, I liked it but didn’t really get it,” Douglas told the San Francisco Chronicle. “l think I was faked out by the deceptive simplicity of the melodies. As a 20-year-old jazz student, you want to go right to Coltrane; you want to do your most flashy licks. With time, I started to understand the deeper value in Monk. And most musicians I know, at some point in their career, they go through a phase where they learn all the Monk tunes and all the parts. Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell, [John] Zorn, Don Byron, Steve Coleman, Jason Moran: Somewhere in their past, they went through there and looked.”
From the liner notes to this CD: SF Jazz Collective: Live 2007/4th Annual Concert Tour