WAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE MUS Introduction to Jazz Fall, Tuesday/Thursday 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. SJAFB Library Bldg. Instructor Information Instructor: Dr. Joseph Hodges Telephone Numbers: (252) (H) (252) Ext 2379 (O) Office Hours: 8-9:30 a.m. Address: FAX Number:(252)

Dr. Hodges’ Playlist s2j2UbIxOcAxOUPzqfMniAaHM3db s2j2UbIxOcAxOUPzqfMniAaHM3db

13. Jazz Composition in the 1950s

Thelonious Monk, “Rhythm-a-ning”Rhythm-a-ning Thelonious Monk Facts Along with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk ( ) was a vital member of the jazz revolution which took place in the early 1940s. Monk's unique piano style and his talent as a composer made him a leader in the development of modern jazz. When Thelonious Monk began performing his music in the early 1940s, only a small circle of New York's brightest jazz musicians could appreciate its uniqueness. His melodies were angular, his harmonies full of jarring clusters, and he used both notes and the absence of notes in unexpected ways. He flattened his fingers when he played the piano and used his elbows from time to time to get the sound he wanted. Critics and peers took these as signs of incompetency, giving his music "puzzled dismissal as deliberately eccentric," as Jazz Journal noted. "To them, Monk apparently had ideas, but it took fleshier players like pianist Bud Powell to execute them properly." The debate over his talent and skill continued as the years passed, but Monk eventually found himself with a strong following. By the time of his death in 1982 he was widely acknowledged as a founding father of modern jazz.

Thelonious Sphere Monk was born October 10, 1917, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The first musical sounds he heard were from a player piano that his family owned. At the age of five or six he began picking out melodies on the piano and taught himself to read music by looking over his sister's shoulder as she took lessons. About a year later the family moved to the San Juan Hill section of New York City, near the Hudson River. His father became ill soon afterward and returned to the South, leaving Thelonious's mother, Barbara, to raise him and his brother and sister by herself. Mrs. Monk did all she could to encourage her young son's interest in music. Though the family budget was tight, she managed to buy a baby grand Steinway piano, and when Thelonious turned 11 she began paying for his weekly piano lessons. Even at that young age it was clear that the instrument was part of his destiny. "If anybody sat down and played the piano," he recalled in Crescendo International, "I would just stand there and watch 'em all the time."

As a boy Thelonious received rigorous training in the gospel music style, accompanying the Baptist choir in which his mother sang and playing piano and organ during church services. At the same time he was becoming initiated into the world of jazz; near his home were several jazz clubs as well as the home of the great Harlem stride pianist James P. Johnson, from whom Thelonious picked up a great deal. By the age of 13 he was playing in a local bar and grill with a trio.

Charles Mingus, “Boogie Stop Shuffle”Boogie Stop Shuffle

Gil Evans, “King Porter Stomp”King Porter Stomp Benny Goodman “King Porter Stomp”King Porter Stomp

George Russell, “Concerto for Billy the Kid”