Thelonious Monk on "Green Chimneys"

Thelonious Monk (b. October 10, 1917) would have been 95 years old today. In anticipation of and following this year's Monk competition, there was plenty said on the intersection of competitions and jazz—what the increasing trend towards competitions in jazz as a foothold into a career for young musicians means for the music, for the economics of this art form, and for the value of originality and creativity. I'll hopefully have some words to say about this broad topic, probably through a more directed look at specific phenomena in jazz ca. 2012 later on, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share my first Monk solo transcription, "Green Chimneys," in honor of Monk's birthday and also this quote from Robin Kelley's biography of the man, which I highly recommend. (You can find a transcription of Charlie Rouse's solo from the same track here).

As it turns out, Monk almost won a scholarship competition while in high school which would have led to his enrolling at Juilliard, as Miles Davis did. Monk didn't win the competition—he lost to Louis Taylor, "a thirteen-year-old piano prodigy" who lived down the street from Monk. In an interview in 2002, Nellie Monk recounted that Monk didn't lose too much sleep over missing this opportunity. Having benefited from winning competitions, I feel there's something to be said about not winning them, too. Monk put it this way:

“I’m glad I didn’t go to the conservatory. Probably would’ve ruined me!” 

"Green Chimneys," from Underground (released in 1968):

Take a listen here:

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In terms of phrasing, this solo was incredibly difficult to transcribe; I'm still not 100 percent sure if I put Monk's phrases in the right parts of the form, but I'd think of this transcription as a sketch to get an idea of how Monk was playing over bar lines and interacting with the rhythm section. Favorite Monk-isms: 9ths, arpeggios, and that triplet line in mm. 61-3.