Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall

Recorded in November 0f 1957, this concert was only recently “discovered”, and released by Blue Note Records, from the tapes of the Library of Congress. Recorded for the Voice of America, the concert is a brilliant display of Thelonious Monk’s primary compositions and John Coltrane’s continuing development as a master, although here he plays within the context of Monk’s looser, rhythmic sound. The driving force of his solo outings are still in the future. The beauty of this historical finding is the snapshot it provides us of the results of Coltrane’s recent tutelage under Monk after several years of uneven playing, due in large part to the gripping drug addiction he was in the process of overcoming. The band consists of Monk on piano, Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Ahmed Abdul-Malik on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. It’s difficult to select one or two songs to focus on. Perhaps this concert is one of the rare gems that demands a complete listen as opposed to selected tracks. An American Masterpiece.