Coming after recent releases of Monk quartet concerts with Charlie Rouse, here's a welcome return to basics. Not that the pianist's playing style ever seems straightforward, but the meat of his work is most readily appreciated when unaccompanied. As well as the distinctively unorthodox but carefully weighted chording, tunes at medium or faster tempos illustrate what great rhythmic acuity and swing he could generate without any assistants. This useful compilation collects whole albums from Paris (1954) and from Riverside (Thelonious Himself and Alone In San Francisco), along with solo tracks from his first three Riversides and his first Columbia. Apart from the addition of two alternate takes, this entails only three duplications of material – unless you count the overlapping textures of several blues in B-flat, notably ‘Blue Monk’ and the famous ‘Functional’. It's revealing that, outside of the Paris date which provided solo versions of several classics previously done for Blue Note or Prestige, a majority of the material consists of ancient song standards, demonstrating not only awareness but fondness for the tradition. Incidentally, the two further bonus tracks recorded privately by the Baroness include the first airing of ‘Pannonica’, with Monk speaking into her tape-recorder, but also ‘Lulu's Back In Town’ associated with the great Fats Waller.