Monk’s 1955 Riverside trio set became a watershed for his profile since, though he had already recorded a few standards (from ‘April In Paris’ to ‘Just A Gigolo’), this was his first whole album of such material. In addition, for those with ears to hear, it showed the stylistic affinity that Thelonious had for Ellington, Monk’s tart voicings and general sparseness being an exaggeration of traits already inherent in the older man’s piano work. The less well-known solo set from the 1969 Berlin Jazz Festival (celebrating Duke’s 70th anniversary that year) reprised three tunes from the Riverside plus ‘Satin Doll’, a sign-off version of Monk’s ‘Crepescule With Nellie’ and an improvised blues with pianist Joe Turner. The two bonus tracks, by the way, are not from the live appearance of Monk with the 1962 Ellington band – which has been issued elsewhere with inferior sound – but the studio versions of the same two Strayhorn arrangements, a blues ‘Frere Monk’ now featuring Cootie Williams (just back from a 22-year absence) and ‘Monk’s Dream’ actually having eight bars of Ellington’s piano. These were done just four days before Money Jungle, which makes a rather more meaningful comparison with Monk, but meanwhile this compilation provides much food for thought.