This is classic stuff, highlighting Monk's first six sessions under his own name and thus his debut versions of ‘‘Round Midnight’, ‘In Walked Bud’, ‘Well You Needn't’, ‘I Mean You’ and much more. The album title has been taken from the early Blue Note compilation LPs of those 1947-52 dates and, to that extent, it merits comparison with the 2CD set ‘Round Midnight: Complete Blue Note Singles (reviewed in Jazzwise 193). There, the running order of the 29 tracks first issued, plus three brought to light later, reflected the original 78rpm pairings, and then added the various alternate takes that surfaced on LP. Here it's the more conventional chronological order, with no alternate takes but with three important additional sources, notably the two tracks including Monk from Blue Note's 1957 Sonny Rollins Vol.2. Also, here are four from the pianist's 1954 Paris session that covered tunes first done on Blue Note and, more unexpectedly, the rare 1955 Gigi Gryce quartet that premiered three new Monk numbers, with fine work by both him and Blakey. And, for once, the illustrations added by Jazz Images contain some genuinely historic, previously unseen, pictures of Monk and various sidemen.