Consumer Guide Album

Thelonious Monk: The Complete London Collection [Black Lion/Deutsche Austrophon, 2018]
Three CDs that could be squeezed onto two recorded in November, 1971, then released to put a ribbon on a tour of Europe that would prove Monk's last anywhere, these 29 selections include 23 Monk classics and six pop standards. Master drummer Art Blakey, who knows Monk's book by heart, keeps things moving yet in place as unschooled bassist Al McKibbon follows along as best he can. What's striking about the originals is that they lack most of the dissonant smashes with which Monk often embellished his classics while deconstructing them. What's striking about the covers is that they're also taken relatively straight--honored, in fact, almost as if he loves them, which ten-to-one he does. Solidest of all is the Gershwins' "The Man I Love," which he renders so declarative it's like he's assuring his friend Billie that her dreamboat will be along right soon after all. A-