Monk. Thelonious Monk. Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in 1917, the legendary pianist and composer was “one of the prime creators — the creator, he said — of modern jazz, i.e., bebop, alongside Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, in the early 1940s, most famously at jam sessions at a Harlem club called Minton’s.” That’s from a New York Times article about Monk’s legacy and the recent arrival of “Palo Alto,” an unreleased concert recording from 1968. Let’s watch him work: Here’s “Round Midnight” (1966) and “Blue Monk” (1954).
Also born today:
Singer-songwriter John Prine is born in Maywood, Illinois, near Chicago on this day in 1946. He died April 7, 2020, of complications caused by COVID-19. His music lives forever in “Paradise.”
