Eric Reed: The Adventurous Monk

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Ben Williams (b)
Charenée Wade (v)
Gregory Hutchinson (d)
Seamus Blake (ts)
Eric Reed (p, ky)

Label:

Savant

July/2014

Catalogue Number:

SCD 2132

RecordDate:

10 September 2013

Following hot on the swinging, angular heels of 2011's The Dancing Monk and 2012's The Baddest Monk, this is Philadelphian pianist Eric Reed's third album featuring the music of Thelonious Monk. Is there anything to add to Monk's legacy? ‘Yes’ comes the resounding reply courtesy of this collection, which is performed mostly as a piano trio, with Seamus Blake adding sax on a handful of tunes and Charanée Wade – runner-up in the 2010 Thelonious Monk International Vocal Competition, appropriately enough – singing on ‘Dear Ruby (Ruby, My Dear)’. It's part spiritual homage and part musical interrogation, with the format kept nice and tight (only three cuts break the five-minute mark) and smart but never self-consciously showy rhythmic recastings helping you to hear Monk's quirky genius afresh: ‘Round Midnight’ starts big and bold, full of noir-ish intentions; ‘Pannonica’ could hardly begin more quietly but shimmies seductively once the Latin beat is set. The album is dedicated to Cedar Walton, another great Monk admirer who died last year just before Reed and his collaborators foregathered to record.

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