The chance finding of tapes held by the late music producer Marcel Romano in 2014 has enabled Monk's soundtrack recordings for Roger Vadim's 1960 film to be made available for the first time. Their appearance is especially welcome since it documents the latter-day Monk quartet and its leader exuding the kind of relaxed creativity that speaks well for both the musicians involved and the ambiance in the Nola Penthouse Studios on that particular Monday. That said, I'm almost tempted to spend the greater part of this review on the accompanying booklet, a bravura 56-page production, with a host of hitherto unseen session photographs and a series of illuminating essays from French critic Alain Tercinet, Monk biographer Robin DG Kelly and our own musicologist Brian Priestley, plus all appropriate session ephemera and data. Priestley and Tercinet clarify the provenance of the music explaining that Monk's pieces adorned the soundtrack of the film whereas Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers used compositions by pianist Duke Jordan for their onscreen nightclub and party sequences. Later, of course, Jordan recorded his compositions for the Charlie Parker label in an album released under the film's title thus compounding potential confusion. Monk preferred to use his own themes for the soundtrack commission and in reality made no concession to the action of the movie and only introduced a single new composition, ‘Light Blue’. Hence Monk opening with ‘Rhythm-A-Ning’ with the sibilant Rouse in animated form, his solo crowded with ideas, the Jones-Taylor combination mesmeric in their concern for swing, Monk wonderfully playful in response. He takes ‘Crepuscule with Nellie’ largely solo, Rouse confined to reiteration of the theme, the mood solemn and hymn-like. There are alternative takes for some of the numbers and edited versions for comparison purposes on a second CD. To quote Brian, the music, “stands up extremely well after nearly six decades.” The sound is excellent and the rewards considerable: for these are performances that may seem unhurried and thoughtful, yet remain uncompromising and fiercely personal.