The Complete Blue Note Recordings

As we all know, “important” recordings are not necessarily more enjoyable because of their importance. But this collection of sessions recorded by Thelonious Monk for the Blue Note label between 1947 and 1952 is truly a treasure in just about every way. The earliest recordings in this four-disc set suffer from the technical limitations of the period, but the music cuts through the sonic murk consistently. Monk was undeniably an odd duck and his compositions reflected that, but he was also a melodic genius: consider tunes like “Evonce,” “Eronel,” and the utterly bizarre and thoroughly entrancing “Four in One,” just to take three examples. Leading combos that feature such A-list sidemen as Milt Jackson, Lou Donaldson, Max Roach, and Idrees Sulieman, the young Monk shows himself already to be completely in command of his craft on these seminal recordings.