USA, 1963, hard bop

The Thelonious Monk Quartet – Monk’s Dream: Monk’s such a weird guy, but I guess what I like best about him is how it can seem like he’s just randomly banging on the piano, but he’s obviously not. It’s like being such a good actor that you can act like you’re not good at acting. That’s the way Monk’s playing seems to me. Not an “it’s so bad it’s good” thing, but rather this dude is able to break rules and still make it sound amazing.