This 1955 session at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in his New Jersey home was Keepnews’ first album with the larger-than-life pianist. He had retired with a mountain of Ellington sheet music and eventually announced himself ready to do an all-Ellington album rather than the original compositions he had mostly be performing. Part of the features of this new series of reissue from the long career of jazz producer Keepnews is the combination of both the original LP liner notes plus a new essay written especially for the reissue.Other features include the addition of bonus and alternate takes where possible, and remastering with 24-bit media before pressing the final standard 16-bit CDs.
There’s a great photo of the nattily-dressed Monk and Keepnews with the Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, who helped support him financially. Monk was quite positive about Keepnews’ suggestion of making an all-Ellington album, and his improvisations on these eight numbers are suitably conscientious while still hinting at some of the quirky twists that could only come from Monk. Taking the title of Ellington’s Solitude to heart, Monk dismisses his rhythm section and devotes a heartfelt unaccompanied “slow movement” to this selection. Pettiford was a first class bassist and his lines come thru with greater clarity and will be more appreciated in this latest remastering.
TrackList: It Don’t Mean a Thing, Sophisticated Lady, I Got It Bad, Black and Tan Fantasy, Mood Indigo, I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart, Solitude, Caravan.
– John Henry
