The first full
biography of legendary jazz musician Thelonious Monk, written by a
brilliant historian, with full access to the family's archives and
with dozens of interviews. Now updated with an afterword for Monk’s
2017 centennial.
Thelonious Monk
is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist’s struggle
to “make it” without compromising his musical vision. It is a
story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of
American history in the twentieth century. To his fans, he was the
ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric,
taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies
shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of
“bebop” and establishing Monk as one of America’s greatest
composers. Elegantly written and rich with humor and pathos,
Thelonious Monk is the definitive work on modern jazz’s most
original composer.