If nothing else, 16 year old high school student Danny Scher had Chutzpah. How many teenagers would have the guts to even try to sign up Thelonious Monk for a gig at a local school, but somehow this guy pulled it off. The fact that he recorded it, and in such excellent quality, is a second reason to have made this kid class valedictorian.
For this October 27, 1968 gig, Monk had his regular team of gruff toned tenorist Charlie Rouse, bassist Larry Gales and drummer Ben Riley. They had released a couple of albums that year, Blue Monk and Underground, and were on a creative roll. The 47 minute set features Spherical red meat as well as a couple of ringers.
Monk goes solo on a whimsical Tin Pan Alley “I Love You Sweetheart of My Dreams” and a richly textured and agonizingly patient “Don’t Blame Me”. Most fun and intriguing is when Monk does some boogie woogie licks on his intro to “Blue Monk”, WITH Rouse giving a Memphis stew of a tenor sax solo, sounding like a swampy R&Ber. These guys are relaxed!
The team stretches out on a couple of the tunes, with Gales bowing and singing along his solo a la Slam Stewart on “Well You Needn’t” and going pizzicato on “Blue Monk” with Gales snapping up some time with his crisp snare as well. The foursome is buoyant on an upbeat read of “Ruby My Dear” and even “Epistrophy” sounds bright and optimistic. Rouse has always been the underrated tenor saxist in Monk’s world, being unjustly compared to Rollins and Coltrane, but you have to give the guy credit for putting his own signature on Monk’s tunes, and he did it with style.
This one is a treasure, and even if you have heard just about everything by Monk (which yours truly has done over the years), this baby is a collection that you’re going to keep coming back to.