Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monkwas an American jazz pianist and composer. Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser" "Ruby, My Dear", "In Walked Bud", and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed more than 1,000 pieces, whereas Monk wrote about 70...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPianist
Date of Birth10 October 1917
CityRocky Mount, NC
CountryUnited States of America
Thelonious Monk quotes about
I guess, you know, if I didn't make it with the piano, I guess I would've been the biggest bum.
All musicians are subconsciously mathematicians.
Trying to explain music is like trying to dance architecture.
Jazz is freedom. You think about that.
I didn't know there were 2 ten o'clocks in a day...
A genius is the one most like himself.
I don't have a definition of Jazz. You're just supposed to know it when you hear it.
If you really understand the meaning of be-bop, you understand the meaning of freedom.
After two takes you're imitating yourself.
I compose my pieces with a formula that I created myself.
The inside of the tune [the bridge] is the part that makes the outside sound good.
I always believed in being myself.
Its always night, or we wouldn't need light.
I don't know where jazz is going. Maybe it's going to hell. You can't make anything go anywhere. It just happens.