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Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free _Mother Jones Daily_. Until now, the short-lived alliance of jazz pioneers Monk and
Coltranecould be heard only on a handful of studio tracks and a low-fi nightclub recording. This exhilarating, recently discovered, late-’57 concert enhances the picture. With his angular,
elegant piano solos, Monk had already transformed traditional influences such as stride into a modern, idiosyncratic style. Though years from the sheets of noise that would spark raging
controversy, and still do, tenor saxophonist Coltrane displays a smoldering, restless intensity diametrically opposed to Monk’s playful ease. Ostensibly the junior partner, Coltrane
regularly upstages his host. On Monk originals like “Epistrophy” and “Crepuscule with Nellie,” and the dazzling nine-minute version of the standard “Sweet and Lovely,” Coltrane eagerly bends
the sturdy melodies, inserting notes that might ring false in less skilled hands. Meanwhile, Monk seems characteristically unruffled, providing a cool, refreshing counterpoint.
