Written by Emily Morrow on April 1, 2021
If legendary jazz
musicians were collected together in one giant jigsaw puzzle and each musician
was one piece – Thelonious Monk’s individual piece would be impossible to cut
out. As a singular artist, his shape or place in jazz is too uniquely
non-conforming.
From a musical and historical standpoint, he is recognized as one of the first
creators of modern jazz and a major influence on the later development of the
Bebop movement. He influenced all its key players, along with helping mentor
both John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins in his 1940s quartet.
An innate