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Monk’s Dream is the first album jazz musician Thelonious Monk
released on Columbia Records. It was recorded in 4 days in
autumn 1962 and issued a year later. The Thelonious Monk
Quartet consisted of Monk (piano), Charlie Rouse (tenor sax),
John Ore (bass), and Frankie Dunlop (drums). Jazz scholars
and enthusiasts alike also heralded this combo as the best Monk
had been involved with for several years. Although he would
perform and record supported by various other musicians, the
tight dimensions that these four shared has rarely been equaled
in any genre.
On tracks such as “Five Spot Blues” and “Bolivar Blues,” Rouse
and Dunlop demonstrate their uncanny abilities by squeezing
in well-placed instrumental fills, while never getting hit by the
unpredictable rhythmic frisbees being tossed about by Monk.
Augmenting the six quartet recordings are two solo sides: “Just
a Gigolo” and “Body and Soul.” Most notable about Monk’s
solo work is how much he retained the same extreme level of
intuition throughout the nearly two decades that separate these
recordings from his initial renderings in the late ‘40s.
SIDE A
1. Monk ’s Dream
2. Body And Soul
3. Sweet Georgia Brown
SIDE B
1. Bolivar Blues
2. Just A Gigolo
3. Bye-Ya
4. Sweet And Lovely
4. Five Spot Blues
