Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original

by Robin D.G. Kelley

The first full biography of pianist/composer Thelonious Monk, written by noted historian,with full access to the family's archives and with dozens of interviews.    Winner - Hurston-Wright Legacy Award, Best Non-Fiction Book        Winner - Best Book About Jazz, Jazz JournalistsAssociation, 2009    Winner - Music in American CultureAward, American Musicological Association    Winner - Ambassador Award for Book of SpecialDistinction, English Speaking Union    Winner - PEN Open Book Award, PEN American Center    Winner - ASCAP Deems-Taylor Award    Finalist, 2010 PEN USALiterary Award

Genres: Music, Biography, Jazz, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, African American

628 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 6, 2009

About the author

Robin Davis Gibran Kelley is an American historian and academic, who is the Gary B. Nash Professor of American History at UCLA.

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-have book for music lovers. Kelley loves Monk's music, and wow, does it show.

Yes, Kelley's right. Monk was an Original. And he always sought ways to make his music perenially NEW, because that was the way his inner life expressed itself. So his music is frank - yet it found itself constrained by necessity into a tight little box - from which he always wanted to escape.

You see, like me he was bipolar. We bipolar guys always see Eldorado beckoning before our limping sight. Limping, because constrained. We Never make it to our golden dream (at least, not in this life).

Back then, though, the tranquilizers were tough to take. So Thelonius appropriately sounds like he's always chomping at the bit.

As I did back in 1970. Now, thankfully, my outlook has mellowed, for my constraints are no longer outer but inner - with advanced neuroleptics - and I have, as the great Rene Girard says, accepted the constraints that go with being different, a victim of bad luck.

But his music! He's the Grandma Moses of modern music. So original he has to be HEARD to be believed.

And you know what?

Those aren't missed notes he's playing on his piano. They're the angst-driven cries of victimhood. Of a man who always knows he's always gonna be CORNERED at the end.

Life was no fun for Thelonius.

No matter how carefree he seemed in his tunes.

Don't fool yourself.

He wanted only Freedom - for himself and his People.

A freedom that always retreated into a distant Ideal world, like his constrained bipolar vision!

https://youtu.be/gi7QYccnKpE?si=yesFX...

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing in my reading about jazz, I just finished the masterpiece Thelonious Monk by Robin D. G. Kelley. It was an incredible read about a largely misunderstood genius. I have always enjoyed listening to Monk, but never exactly understood why. Now, I understand that he would decompose chords by removing a few notes or flattening or sharpening one of them and that is one of the things (along with complex time signatures) that marked his work. Unlike the biographies of Miles or Coltrane that I read, this book does not go into transcriptions of his music but rather speaks to up musical laymen about how he was inspired by Bartok and Schoenberg and other modern classic composers – this flies in the face of the urban myth concerning Monk’s art being solely inspired by african-american culture. It was nice to see Kelley debunk most of the myths about Monk: he was a very friendly, engaging person when he was not in a bipolar mood swing. He was not completely disconnected with the world around him. He had many close friends in the jazz world (and was deeply moved when they passed away – most notably Elmo Hope and Bud Powell). It is deplorable that his condition was never detected and that a quack doctor supplied him with damaging vitamin supplements that drove him down lower in his sickness. I was better able to appreciate the albums I love most: Underground, Straight No Chaser, Thelonious Alone in SF due to the description of his many sessions and concerts. It is also sad that he never really got his due and struggled most of his life for money – I learned much to my dismay that for one of his earliest and most often quoted songs – ‘Round Midnight – he only received 33% of the rights having been ripped off my the person that submitted the lead sheet for royalties.

If you are a jazz fan and especially if you are a Monk fan, this is essential reading. Let me know how you like it.

Still a classic!

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thelonious Sphere* (* yes, that's his middle name) Monk. What do you know about this dude? Are you into jazz? Have you sampled any of his bag? Misterioso? Blue Monk? Epistrophy? Ruby, My Dear?
Do you have any interest in the man behind the music? His relationships with guys like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins? His arrests? His roots? How the music was made? What was the social/cultural context in which he made his way?

This book takes all of that within its covers. Kelley has done a most thorough and in depth validation of his subject matter. You can read it for a cutural/sociological primer on NYC and musicians during the height of jazz's popularity. You can experience the fascinating, frustrating, and somewhat tragic arc of Monk's life. Or you can just learn more about the music.

As I write this, I am listening to several cuts of the same song, "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You." In a way, Monk and Dylan, have the same ethic --- play the same song many times but never the same way twice. Each time is a new journey: something I really can enjoy.

I have noted that others find this book ponderous at times. For me, not so. But, here is my secret. First, I bought it as an e-book. Second, I use the "search" function frequently. Am I curious about Misterioso? Plug it into search and I can find over a dozen separate sections that discuss some aspect. Am I interested in his mentor relationship with John Coltrane? Again, it is delightful to find those passages and read as much or as little as I find compelling. There is so much packed into this volume that brings pleasure that I have no need to read it from front to back. How about you?

[Jon Zelazny · Rating 3 out of 5]

My jazz shelf has about a hundred albums, which makes me an enthusiast rather than a collector or scholar, and I soon realized this epic bio isn’t really for non-musical-theory dudes who just think bebop sounds really bitchin’. But I soldiered on: through every gig Thelonious Monk ever played, what he played, who he played with, what the critics thought at the time, and what Professor Kelley thinks as he appraises the tapes decades later.

So yeah, it’s both musically over my head, and often mind-numbingly tedious as biography, but I’m glad I stuck with it, because a history of one bebop giant is kind of the history of all of them, as they repeatedly crossed paths, and played at each other’s gigs and recording sessions. Monk was gone before I even knew what jazz was, but thankfully I got to see some of his peers— Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Stan Getz, Elvin Jones, Ron Carter, Don Cherry— which brought back fond memories whenever they popped up in Monk’s life.

I also appreciate this as the most long-winded record guide I’ve ever read. Flipping through used record store jazz bins is fruitless because every note the gods recorded has been re-re-and re-released on a zillion different labels, and unless you know the absolute cream of an artist’s output, you’ll likely just end up buying crap. So, if you’re wondering what to get me for Christmas, my list for Santa now includes Monk’s Genius of Modern Music Vol. 1 & 2 (1952), Thelonious Monk / Sonny Rollins (1955), and Underground (1968).

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously if you are even a little bit of a Monk-head, you need to read this.

My only criticisms would be that there were a few too many excuses or justifications for Monk's behavior when it would have been better to simply accept that, like most of us, he could be an asshole sometimes. I don't really know any of his jazz peers who wasn't. The other criticism is that it read at times as little more than a list of people he worked with and concerts he played at. Personally I would have preferred a little more musical analysis etc, but that is just a matter of personal taste.

Otherwise it does a fabulous job putting to rest the (racist) myths of Monk the "primitive" - he knew precisely what he was doing. It was just a shame his mental health and the crappy music business world meant he did not get as much a chance as he should have to get it down on record.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book through the NY Times Best 100 Books of 2009. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it does not appear to be a National Book Award or Pulitzer finalist or nominee. It should be. Just a browse through "The Notes" reflects 14 years of interviews documenting musical history that would be lost forever without Robin D. G. Kelley's initiative.

The title is perfect. This is a chronological portrayal of an American life and family against the backdrop of its time. Monk, while musically ahead of his time, was caught within it.

Monk's life is like a catalog of race related set backs. He is arrested 3 times and serves jail time for two in circumstances would hardly beset a white counterpart. In one case the arrest, spurred by suspicion of two black men and a while woman in a Bentley, included a beating and an illegal search. In another Monk served time and lost his cabaret performance license for 6 years for not ratting on a friend. Getting back and keeping this license (his livelihood) is Sisyphusian. Monk's apartment had two electrical fires and its front steps disappeared in a sink hole. How often does this happen to a white counterpart? Throughout his life friends and relatives die young, mostly given up to drugs. Even Monk's 4F draft status relates to his race.

Besides Monk's personal brush with racism and its by products, big national events hover over his past and present. He is two generations from slavery and a product of the northern migration. In his adult years he sees the death of Emmett Till, the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the anti-colonial uprisings in Africa, Martin Luther King and the backlash, the ghetto riots... all this swirls around Monk and his music.

I played some of the music as it was discussed in the book as a backdrop while I was reading. It gave a lot of dimension and helped me to re-envision the time and place of the music's creation. The world seemed to be aflame in change.

Kelley easily debunks the myths that Monk couldn't read music and had no classical background. He not only reads music, he writes it. His mother sacrificed to get him a piano and private lessons. Interestingly, when institutionalized, after staring at a piano, he bursts into Rachmaninoff.

Monk finally received recognition for his work but never the fortune that today's artistic celebrities enjoy. His creations are the result of his determination, his mother's guidance to "be yourself" and the support he received from his deepest supporters.

Barbara Monk (mother), Nellie Monk (wife), Nica (the Barroness patron) and the Colomby brothers (agents) all deserve recognition for their role in helping Monk create and deliver his music. Monk, who gave them love also took a toll on each of them. I presume his mental problems were more trying than presented here. Only a few episodes of violence are mentioned, but something clearly triggered the cop on the NY accident scene to take Monk to a mental institution. What appears as benign eccentricity to fans (tardiness, argumentativeness, wandering, walking off the stage) had consequences for his family and supporters.

The book begins with a mention of a Julliard graduate Julius Withers Monk, a descendant of the family that owned Thelonious' grandfather. I would like to see families such as these chronologically paralleled. This pairing is particularly intriguing. Kelley notes that their names appear together (both have classical given names) alphabetically in the Local 802 musician's directory. They were clearly aware of each other, did they meet?

This is an important work. Kelley strikes a good balance in the difficult work of documenting a life and still making the work enjoyable. While this is something like a reference book it is still readable. I highly recommend this to all who have an interest in the foundations of jazz.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to rate -- if I'm going on exhaustive research and attention to detail, I'd give it 5 stars. It reads a little slow and tends to get into a play by play of "how the shows went over" a bit too much, I thought, but generally this was an incredible, interesting read. It's sometimes hard to connect the thoughtful, reasonable man portrayed throughout this book with the character you see spinning around in "Straight, No Chaser," and the interpretive gap still has me a bit off guard -- did Kelley maybe make too many concessions or gloss over Monk's mental lapses a bit too much in the book? I don't know, but he definitely uncovers a pretty rich logistics to a truly strange life.

Musically, I feel like Kelley could have done a bit more to place Monk in contemporary contexts as time went on. Characters like Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane float in and out of the story without much description about what kinds of things they had moved on to and how it compared to what Monk was doing -- in Monk's eyes, in the critics of the day, or even in Kelley's own opinion. We get to see it a bit with the friction between Monk and Ornette Coleman and Davis' later fusion period, but I feel like that could have been explored a bit more (although it pains me to suggest that Kelley should have done any more work on this book that he already has . . . ).

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3* of five

I wish I'd never read this book. I now don't like Thelonious Monk, who comes across in these pages as a self-centered snot whose mental illness could and should have been medicated to ameliorate its nasty effects on those around him; and I flat don't like the selfishness and effrontery of the man.

His music is great. I will do my damnedest to forget the rest.

I spent 451pp hoping that soon I'd get past the building distaste for the man whose talent I'd revered for decades. Sadly, it never happened. I think Robin Kelley got Stockholm Syndrome and fell into the world of Monk so completely that he became an apologist instead of a biographer and the book became a hagiography. Kelley's serviceable prose rises to a sort of two-dimensional poesie when rhapsodizing about Monk's music, but it's never better than average.

Not recommended. Not at all. Want to know about Monk? Listen to "Ruby, My Dear." It'll teach you what you *really* need to know.

[Craig Pittman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed and masterful biography of my favorite jazzman and the pianist Duke Ellington once saluted as having "the baddest left hand in the history of jazz."

I started reading this book in April and soon discovered I couldn't just zoom through it the way I do most books. I had to take my time. I had to savor its flavor. Robin Kelley spent 14 years digging into Monk's life and music, and he's packed every bit of his research into the book -- and put a jaw-dropping anecdote on nearly every page. Here's Monk trying to choke critic Leonard Feather! Here's Monk nearly coming to blows with Miles Davis! Here's Monk getting beaten up by Delaware state troopers!

This isn't just any old recitation of facts about his life, either. Kelley explains what went into Monk's 70 or so compositions, their radical, often dissonant chord voicings, their complex rhythms and odd accents, the elbow-bangs on the keyboard and the long silences. And he takes pains to dismiss all the publicity depicting Monk as some sort of primitive savant with no knowledge of music history, "a strange person whose pianistics continue to baffle all who hear him."

Instead, Kelley shows that from the age of 11 to 13 he studied with a teacher who exposed him to the works of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Liszt, and at 17, having just missed a scholarship to Juilliard, he went on the road accompanying an evangelist -- a formative event that led to a lifelong love of gospel music, if not any particular devotion to religious pursuits.

Although Monk liked to play up his off-kilter view of the world, much of it turned out to be calculated, his style underlain by a wicked sense of humor. His penchant for dancing on the bandstand, considered odd by some audiences, was actually a sign he was digging what his band mates were doing. Kelley even explains Monk's sudden adoption of his trademark hats -- astrakhan, Japa­nese skullcap, Stetson, tam-o’-shanter -- by pointing out that when he started wearing them, he'd also started losing his hair.

Monk could be loyal to a fault -- he took the rap for a drug bust that should've been pinned on Bud Powell, and as a result lost his cabaret card, crippling his ability to work in the New York clubs just when bebop was really taking off. He also relied heavily on a rich patron, Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, aka Nica, who hooked him up with a society doctor who probably did Monk's bipolar disorder far more harm than good.

The trajectory of his latter years is a sad one, as he withdrew from the world and not only stopped composing but also stopped even playing the piano (perhaps a side effect of the lithium being used then to treat his chemical imbalance). But there were plenty of triumphs preceding it, and today the world is far richer for his legacy. Kelley is not a great writer but he's a great researcher, and I came away from his bio with a far greater knowledge and appreciation of what Monk went through to give us such classics as "Blue Monk" and "Round Midnight" and "Crepuscule with Nellie." I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in music of any kind -- not just jazz.

[Gregory Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

   Robin D.G. Kelley’s biography on Thelonious Monk should be required reading not only for every jazz musician, but also every American. Every jazz musician knows his songs and every jazz musician considers Monk to be one of the patron saints of the art form. But most don’t know about Monk’s affinity for ping pong, shooting hoops at a nearby park, or the game show, “The Price is Right.” I certainly have a hard time picturing Monk making a bank shot or a layup and who could imagine an artist like Picasso doing something similar, like dribbling a soccer ball? These images allow us to see these geniuses as people, not just as great artists. Fortunately, the uniqueness of Monk provides many related stories and through descriptions of rare interviews, recordings, and pictures, the reader of Kelley’s book gets to know Monk personally.

   This human side of Monk was perhaps his greatest strength. He was the counter-cultural rebel of the 1950s and beyond because he was perhaps one of the most human individuals of his generation. One sees that in his mentoring of pianists like Bud Powell, Hampton Hawes (whom he rescued from a bench in Central Park when Hawes was addicted to heroin), Billy Taylor, Randy Weston, alto saxophonist Ernie Henry (whom he also helped amidst Henry’s battle with heroin), and countless others. Kelley also allows the reader to see Monk through a larger lens and thus, one of his emotional vulnerabilities – grief. As various important people in his life started to pass away starting with his mother in 1955, Barbara Monk, one sees how difficult it was for him to deal with death. After the passing of his nephew Ronnie Smith from heroin, Monk temporarily retreated and took it very hard. The later passing of people he was close to like Ernie Henry, Bud Powell, John Coltrane, Sonny Clark, Elmo Hope, and Coleman Hawkins pushed him further from his jubilant, free-spirited self, and when Hawkins died in 1969, Monk didn’t sleep and paced in his house for three days.

   Monk’s other vulnerability was his mental health. Since knowledge of this was limited during Monk’s era, he wasn’t correctly diagnosed as bipolar until sometime in the 1970s. It explained his manic tendencies and propensity to “crash” at random times. One wonders how he accomplished as much as he did, considering the medication (Thorazine and Lithium) given to him throughout his life seemed to dull his creativity and abilities. It also seemed to make matters worse when he would mix the medication with alcohol or other light narcotics. Overall, it seemed like he suffered a lot because his disorder was not treated very well and caused numerous trips to hospitals, psychiatric wards, and run-ins with the police for erratic behavior.

   Marrying his wife Nellie in 1947 was essential because she became his guardian angel. They say that behind every great man is a great woman, and this was certainly the case with Monk. Due to his bipolar condition, Nellie gave him the stability that he otherwise lacked, and after reading this biography, it seemed like Nellie deserved more than half the credit for Monk’s accomplishments. Probably due to Monk’s erratic behavior, she suffered from ulcers and digestive issues. She later served as the sole provider (in the early years when Monk didn’t work as much or was in a psychiatric ward), road manager, travel coordinator, accountant, wife, and God knows what else. In fact, she later became his nutritionist because Monk didn’t ever seem to know how to take care of himself and also because he had issues with his prostate and urinary tract. Nellie became obsessed with juicing to help her husband’s health, and her attempts to provide the same health juices for seemingly the entire neighborhood caused her to juice into the wee hours of the morning. The noise from the juicer, in turn, not only pissed off the neighbors, but created a wedge in their marriage that helped force Thelonious out of their Upper West Side apartment/condo and into his friend Nica’s house in New Jersey (where he later passed in 1982).

   One of my favorite stories from the book came from his 1965 tour of Europe. During their time in Warsaw, Poland, Monk and the band took a tour of the Royal Castle. It was the home of Poland’s monarchs, featured ornately painted ceilings, and kept in pristine condition since the 13th century. While on their tour, Monk slipped under the velvet rope keeping tourists out, and laid down in the queen’s bed to see what it felt like. Nellie screamed at him to get up, which he eventually did, but not before causing a huge scene and offending the dignity of the Polish people. Apparently, it was all because he wanted to see what the queen saw while staring at the ceiling in bed! Fortunately, he did not later get into trouble or face legal punishment.

   Another crazy story came from hanging out with his buddies (Sonny Clark and Elmo Hope) on a hot August night in 1961. They were outside on the stoop (front stairs leading to the house) passing time, when all of a sudden the whole stoop collapsed in a giant sinkhole! All three men (including saxophonist Tina Brooks) went into the hole that put them in the basement of the house. Monk was the first one to pop out of the hole unscathed, but Brooks ended up with a broken arm. Monk later took advantage of the press who showed up concerned about his condition, to give his friend Elmo Hope some props, calling him the greatest pianist on the planet.

   The best aspect of Kelley’s biography is that it allows the reader to see the philosophy behind Monk’s craft. His belief in using melody, rhythm, and use of space to bring out his artistry sets him apart from the other masters of his time period. For example, more than any other jazz musician, Monk saw that through repetition, simplicity, and space, the music and the songs bring out one’s individuality. The music was a vehicle to become himself and not as something just for expression. Duke Ellington once called him the baddest left hand in the history of jazz, and he used the piano to display himself as he truly was. One could say that the instrument became his philosopher’s stone, and his ability to become and present himself was his genius and why people loved Thelonious Monk and continue to love him to this day. He certainly wasn’t easy to get along with at times and undoubtedly lived in another world. But his life and this biography illuminate the path for countless others to follow. How does one become one’s self and be truly human in modern times? As once displayed on his ring that he liked to show people: Know (Monk).

[Tyra Sherese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow...what a beautiful story! I enjoy reading biographies (and autobiographies and memoirs) and I really enjoyed reading about the life of Thelonious Monk! I had to really take my time reading this one...LOTS of details and very well researched and written. I have been listening to a LOT of Monk's music while reading this book, and I can't seem to get the song "Ruby, My Dear" out of my head...I LOVE that song! Excellent book written by Robin D. G. Kelley!

[bartosz · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's nothing quite like reading a good biography and Robin D. G. Kelley's Thelonious Monk the Life and Times of an American Original is the most exhaustive one I've read to date!

I've listened to Monk's music since high school and I've always been blown away by his use of space, angular phrases and peculiar rhythms. Reading the book shed some light on the creative process, jazz history as well as the people behind the music.

First of all, let me say what this book is not. It's not a musical master's thesis on Monk's music. The technical details of his playing are mostly relegated to an one-and-a-half page appendix, and you won't see a musical note anywhere throughout the book.

I was surprised to learn that the author is a musician (thinking that one would have an urge to get into the meat and bones of Monk's playing). Yet, what the book lacks in musical details it makes up with Monk's philosophy. The book is strewn with advice that Thelonious gave to his fellow musicians, his views on playing and comments about new emerging styles. Thelonious disliked both free jazz as well as rock and roll. I wish more was said about what Monk thought about modal jazz (though his comments about jazz-fusion and that playing over one chord is "bullshit" might apply).

The author of the book is a historian and it shows. The book is almost overwhelming in its detail, allowing one to do full bookkeeping records of Monk's income and answer important questions like "Which studio charged Thelonious for the sandwiches he ate on set". I cannot imagine how much work it cost the author to so painstakingly source and index everything. Thelonious Monk the Life and Times[...] stands proudly on the impressive historical work alone!

The second part of the subtitle "... and Time of an American Original" is not a joke - Robin D. G. Kelley not only provides information about Monk but also everything that influenced him and everything that he, in turn, influenced. From the history of Monk's grandparents; to the historical detail of New York's neighborhoods, clubs and coffee joints; recording studios; schools that Monk or Monk's children attended to - nothing is easier than to get lost in the detail! Yet, the work that the author put in to flesh out the world helps forming a better picture of Monk's life as well as adding an emotional and intellectual attachment to the events and descriptions.

I was surprised to learn about the origin of bebop described in the book, having always assumed that bebop came solely from both Bird and Dizzy Gillespie. The interactions between other famous musicians and Monk were also a pleasant surprise for me. I had no idea that the jazz world was so tightly knit.

It's easy to dismiss the mentally ill, and brush off each aspect of their character as a facet of their distress but Kelley manages to paint a picture of a complicated man with a wry sense of humor and non-conforming personality. Troubled by both his illness and financial problems, yet not defined by his obstacles. Monk led a full life with strong ties to both his family and community. There's a love story in the mids of the book between Thelonious and his wife, Nellie, and one cannot wonder at how much she loved him and took care of him.

I disliked two things about the book. I've felt that the author tries to whitewash Monk's behavior and treats his subject with a different standard than other people, eschewing from neutrality I'd expect from a historian. This lack of neutrality also applies to my second point in how the author presents race relations throughout the book. I understand that not writing about race relationships would be an important historical omission, yet sometimes the author projects too much of his own feelings and views and uses too little evidence for my taste ("... must have known ...", "... must have been aware ...", "Even if the designers sought to deliberately play on representations of Monk as 'child-like' [...] Thelonious was too cool, too masculine and too angry to convey anything but black manhood.")

These small annoyances notwithstanding, Thelonious Monk the Life and Times[...] is a labor of love. A must have for jazz fans, I can only imagine one (futuristic) way for it to be better - adding interactive music clips and historical reels! And more photos strewn out within!

[Happyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book felt like living Monk’s life. You finish wondering if there could possibly be any gaps in his history – or the history of where he lived, who he knew, or the African-American experience of the time. You’ll definitely enjoy reading this book if you love jazz and want to read about every significant jazz musician who played from the 1930s through the 1970s. Even Monk’s lesser-known sidemen get significant backstories. Plus it feels like every rehearsal, every gig, every jam session, every bad drug or drinking experience is recalled in detail. The evolution of every Monk composition seems to be recounted. Yet for all the recalled conversations, all the extensive family history, Monk never seems to come fully alive in this book. You feel like you only catch glimpses of the man himself. This could be due to Monk’s personality, to the fact that most of the sources are talking about him, their impression of him and little of the sourcing are his own words, or to the fact that so much ground is covered that your attention is scattered. From stories about his friendships with many of his fellow musicians, such as his heartbreaking friendship with Bud Powell or his strong devotion to Coleman Hawkins and Duke Ellington, and recollections of his devotion to his wife and kids, you get the sense that this is a deeply passionate and heartfelt man and yet . . . . At the end of the day, a well-written and well-documented biography worth reading if you’re interested in all things Monk.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

some super sweet sweetheart gave this to me for a gift - i'm hella enjoying it!

this is a really well researched book. it dispells lots of myths that have amassed over the years about this great american composer. critics mis-read thelonious, seeing him as some sort of hermetic freak of nature who just fell out of the sky with a highly idiosyncratic style.

nah. monk was a genius who was highly studied, and could play a variety of musics. he CHOSE to play the way he did, which is contrary to the popular belief that his style was the result of an unschooled, sheltered musical consciousness.

[Paul Secor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A difficult book to rate.
On one hand, it has as much factual detail as I probably will ever need to know about Thelonious Monk's life.
On the other hand, it captures very little of the spirit and life that I hear and sense in Monk's music. Perhaps that's a difficult thing to capture in a biography, but I missed it.
I'll give it four stars for the multitude of facts and hope that someone else writes a biography that captures the spirit of the man.

[Daniel Pendergraft · Rating 5 out of 5]

So amazing to read about. Monk is my hero, to read about his often troubled but colorful life was an emotional journey for me. Sometimes we assume we know about musician's struggles just from trite anecdotes and listening to their music, but their lives are so much richer and diverse that we can understand. This book is a monolithic scholarly undertaking: Kelley has certainly done his research, providing a ridiculous amount of historical and personal background information, even getting to speak with Nellie Monk (Thelonious' wife) before she passed away. He is a the perfect representative for Monk: kindly defensive yet also boldly honest about his life. Anyone who considers themselves a jazz musician should read this book, as Thelonious Monk is one of the great originators of modern music. Important in that it clears up many of the myths associated with his eccentricity and eventual mental illness and provides a multi-faceted representation of this complex, brilliant man. A touching, vibrant work; highly recommended.

[Harriett Milnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, excellent book that details Monk's performing life, concert by concert, as well as describing in detail many details, such as the "caberet card" and Local 802, the musician's union. I heard Thelonious Monk play in Pittsburgh, as a teenager, and somehow got his autograph. Which, sadly, is lost in the sands of time.

[Mesoscope · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Monk biographer certainly has their work cut out for them. Anyone who's seen a Monk interview knows he's not exactly forthcoming in describing himself or his worldview. Add to this his enigmatic and sometimes odd behavior, the abundance of tall tales in jazz oral history, and specifically the huge number of conflicting stories and myths about this colossus, and it becomes difficult to know what to say.

Nor are the events of his life particularly exciting. For example, the stages of his artistic development do not lend themselves to periodization. We can easily tell a story of Miles Davis or John Coltrane sounding very different in 1950 and 1960, but the evolution of Monk's musical ideas charted a much more narrow course.

This all constitutes a problem for the biographer who has to find a story to tell. Kelley has opted to focus on details, which he provides in great profusion - more than this reader had an appetite for. Which minor figure he played with on such-and-such a minor recording date is of little interest to me, much less where they were from and how they got their start. In the attempt to provide a comprehensive document, Kelley's book has become too long and bogged down in minutiae.

I also have very little confidence in his judgment as a biographer. He signals throughout an over-identification with his subject that casts his critical perspective in serious doubt, and at times plays the apologist to a degree that is genuinely bewildering. The clearest case of this for me is his reference again and again to "the myth that Monk was unreliable as a performer" - a "myth" that Kelley himself copiously documents. What else are we to make, for example, of stories of Monk wandering off the stage at the Five Spot only to be found in the kitchen talking to the dishwasher while the band played on? Or the bizarre story of his work scoring the 60s film Dangerous Liaisons? In Kelley's telling, he essentially dicked the director around until literally the last conceivable minute, when he finally signed his contract three days before the drop-dead delivery date ... only to deliver no new material whatsoever, instead opting for a collection of thin performances of his most-recorded chestnuts, including three separate takes of "Pannonica".

So what is the reader to make of it, when Kelley tells these stories, and then, pages later, contemptuously refers to the "worn-out myth that Monk isn't a reliable performer"? I lost count of the club owners who couldn't wait to fire him. He was obviously highly erratic, and in many ways a terrible band leader, despite being a musical genius.

Worst of all is the bizarre certitude with which the author diagnoses Monk with maniac depression. Any Monk fan knows perfectly well that he's been retroactively attributed with every conceivable condition from autism to spiritual enlightenment. One may speculate, but diagnosing mental illness is not a game for amateurs, and it's intellectually irresponsible for a historian to bandy such terminology about as though he has the slightest competence to do so.

Something about this book and the author's take on his subject struck me as really off. I don't know what exactly is going on here, but I have a distinct intuition the author has some sort of ax to grind, that he somehow defends his construction of Monk's image in a way that's inappropriately personal.

[Joshua Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was long, but thorough, and so in depth, and I enjoyed every minute of it! Robin D. G. Kelley gave us a wonderful portrait of an original, artistic, family-oriented, and complex person. I can’t even begin to imagine all the work he and so many others put in to making this book. I’ve been a fan of Thelonious Monk’s music since 2013 when I started to study his tune, “Well You Needn’t.” Even before studying that tune I remember hearing stories about Monk being: aloof, temperamental, or completely self-taught and not knowing western music tradition. These stories are brought to light and a much more complicated person appears, one who was shaped by his family, friends, and environment, and yet walked his own path to authenticity.

I appreciated how much of history was added to give a greater context to Monk’s life. Broader history of the world, mostly in the U. S., but also personal histories of important figures in his life, like: Bud Powell, Pannonica, Elmo Hope, and of course Nellie Monk.

The book is full of heartbreak, frustration, and plenty of humor. There were several occasions where I would burst out with a laugh, or even laughter as I read. One of Monk’s and Miles Davis’s encounters had me laughing as I read the passage to my spouse.

As a musician, jazz and Monk fan, this book gave me a lot to ponder and really think about. The biggest one for me being how important is the critic’s role, for those being critiqued, and for the audience? Monk was heavily criticized as a musician and composer, and thankfully over time the tune of the critic began to change even if Monk may not have. I have no answer for myself yet, but I can say I will be a bit more critical of reviews/critiques I read from now on.

This is a tough book to put down. I feel like I know Thelonious Monk and his family a little bit and have enjoyed spending hours on the couch reading about them, the difficult challenges they faced, and the many triumphs he and they had. Thankfully, I have plenty of Monk’s music to keep me company, and listening to them now sounds that much sweeter.

[Dan Petegorsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robin D.G. Kelley worked some 14 years on this biography, and it shows. Monk couldn’t have hoped for a better biographer than Kelley – a scholar, musician, historian, and clearly a fan – and Kelley’s given us a portrait that’s at once loving, meticulous and poignant. Kelley’s skills are all at their best when he combines his musical and historical insights, for example, in the early chapters on Monk’s San Juan Hill neighborhood as it and the jazz scene developed.

Much as a I loved this book, I don’t wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who’s not a pretty serious jazz fan, since so much of it, duh, traces Monk’s career, and so is filled with the details of where, when and what he played and who he played it with. But for those of you in that category: the best way to enjoy this one is to have your collection at your fingertips, and a connection to Rhapsody close by for the titles you don’t own (not to mention YouTube, where you can also find clips from a surprising number of performances). Kelley’s observations on the music itself are insightful and also very intelligible. Unlike, say, the technical sections of Lewis Porter’s monumental Coltrane biography, you don’t need to be a trained musician to appreciate them.

Though Monk’s story ends so sadly and while it’s hard to read about just how difficult things were throughout so much of his life and career, Kelley equally elicits wonderful examples of Monk’s wit and humor. My favorite may be when he and Miles are arguing about Monk’s difficult way of accompanying band members’ solos. At one point Monk does lay out during a Miles solo, but, as Kelley describes the scene: "In an act of playful comeuppance, Monk left the piano, snuck up behind Miles during his solo, reached into his shirt pocket for a pack of cigarettes, and dug into his jacket pocket for matches. After he lit up, he put everything back into Davis' pockets." Priceless.

[T.R. Hummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is scarcely possible for me to convey the pleasures of this book. It is exhaustive in its presentation of known facts, and yet concise; it is highly resistant to the pervasive mythology (much of it pernicious) that has polluted Monk's aura, and--vitally important--the man can WRITE. As he is an historian with a distinguished track record in that field, he comes to this job (which is clearly a labor of love for him) far more completely equipped than many who assay the field of jazz biography (many of which are so poorly written as to be virtually unreadable, and many of which are poorly or spottily researched). If I have a complaint, it is that Kelley is perhaps TOO careful, too circumspect, in his desire to be as objective (and yet sympathetic) as possible. This is a strength of the book, but it is also a very tiny drawback, for this reader: but indeed the fault may lie in me and not in the book, because so fascinating and marvelous do I find Monk that I want to be inside his head completely. And that is of course impossible.

If you are a fan of jazz, or merely curious about it, this book is a must-read; and if you love Monk, it is not only a necessity, it is a supreme pleasure.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Monk's music and of (good) scholarly writing about Jazz, so this was a natural. Kelley leaves no stone unturned and offers a compelling picture of the great pianist and composer. He certainly has an argument to make, mainly that Monk's strange behavior was a product of undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Kelley's diagnosis effectively serves to humanize Monk and make him seem more pitiable than bizarre, at least to modern readers; it's not really possible to fully convince with such a diagnosis, of course, but it's an interesting question to consider. As a biography, moreover, the book naturally focuses on Monk's life, and spends less time on the music; let me hasten to say that the music is, of course, an essential part of his life, so Kelley doesn't ignore the music. What I mean is that if one is looking for musicology, or close analyses of dates (with discussions of collaborators, etc), this book will not fully satisfy. Aside from these two concerns, it's a must-read for anyone interested in Monk or classic jazz.

[Marvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent biography on the jazz legend. Robin Kelley worked on this book for 14 years and it shows in its incredible detail and insight to the great jazz pianist and composer.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

everything you wanted to know about monk, and more. nice list of original compositions of monk's, and a selected discography too.

[Rae-Aila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love you, Monk

[Djll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monk's neighborhood in 30's NYC is a lively place where all the women are beautiful, all the men are accomplished, and all the children are WAY above average. At least, that's how Robin D.G. Kelley paints it. Are we trying too hard to send an "empowering message" to an "underserved community?" This portrait comes along after an exhaustingly labyrinthine stroll through Monk's ancestry and the tangled lives of his post-slavery predecessors. I knew Monk was a family man, but I didn't know he was a family man three generations before he was born.

...

OK, I was about to give up on this at around page 97. There are so many poorly written sentences, rambling, unnecessary details and contradictory, nonsensical turns, it's freaking annoying as hell. Kelley seems to be as confused over Monk's piano playing as the old-jazz critics he is quoting. There are distracting changes of tone and all-too-intimate asides such as "There was no mistaking the fact that she was a fully grown woman." (describing a young Nellie, Monk's wife-to-be) It's more than odd -- it's inappropriate in a biography such as this. It reads as if Kelley had composed stretches of the book as a bedside story for Monk's great-grandkids. The book's voice jumps around from that kind of warm & cozyness to more newspaper-style reportage, and that bothers me.

Then it gets better. Once Kelley latches on to Blue Note's "discovery" and promotion of Monk and his music, laying bare the PR campaign versus the eyewitness reports, all set against a backdrop of a fractious, fertile NY "bebop" scene, the book starts to cook. Some good new information is unearthed; for instance, it's interesting to find out just why so many of Monk's sidemen from the late 40s were a.) obscure, and b.) Muslim. The scenes set in the Hawkins tour through Portland, Oregon, are illuminating and gratifying. You really get the sense of the comparative isolation of smaller African-American communities, and what it meant to have a guy like Coleman Hawkins show up on their street.

However. For a reader unfamiliar with the Bird/Dizzy foundational story of 'modern jazz,' some of this may be rough going. Kelley lays out the alternative story of Monk as fountainhead, and along with it the myth of Monk as a 'weirdo,' but doesn't go much into the standard story (which, admittedly, has been covered to exhaustion). If you don't know that story, you may feel like a square.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written, and certainly an interesting read. A little too much detail for me. I got the sense that, if I was a super-super fan of Monk's, when I was reading 4 straight pages that were just about the grades and teacher comments he got when he was 8 years old in the third chapter, I would have looked at the nearly 500 pages left to go and would have said, "Bring it on." Instead, I looked at all those pages left in the book and wondered if I really wanted to dive into that many tedious details about Monk.

I can't really give a fair review beyond that, since I didn't get through it. I think for someone who wants to know every single detail of the man's life, it would be a great book. It just seemed that the author was trying to show us all of the research he did, instead of really give us information that was genuinely interesting about this man.

So, the book may be great for some... But for me, I will just keep listening to his music a lot and read his wikipedia page for the details I need.

[Sam]

It took me a really long time to get through this book. And while that is often a sign that maybe this book is not for me, I still found myself wanting to pick it up. Monk is such a captivating figure that I never wanted to give up on the book.

However, it’s hard to really know who this book is for. At times it felt like Kelley really wanted to write entirely separate books on music theory, the systemic failures of mental health services available to Black Americans in the 20th century, the relationship between white critics and Black musicians, etc… Kelley, however, returns after each interesting segue to what feels like an almost daily recounting of every show, recording session, and the constantly rotating ensemble of sidemen. At times I felt so inundated with information that I felt like I was forgetting earlier pieces of information in exchange for taking in all the new information.

Despite all that, I’d say I really enjoyed my time. However, that may be more a product of being captivated by Monk hisself than Kelley’s writing. Yet I do have to give Kelley praise for the astoundingly exhaustive research he put into this book in order to let Monk shine through.

[Sam Motes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Digs beneath the rumors and stories to who Thelonious was. He struggled with his own demons and personal mental challenged and defined jazz for generations to come. He is certainly the inspiration for many piano players in and outside of jazz and beloved by music lovers the world over. Very enjoyable read.

[Travis Bliss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing