Monk, Thelonious & Sonny Rollins

The Prestige Sessions [VINYL]

Label: Doxy Country: Italy

"Although Sides A & B were both originally released as two separate ten-inch albums on Bob Weinstock's Prestige Records, all tracks (recorded at two separate sessions in 1953 and 1954) have both Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins playing on them.

Side A was recorded at WOR studio in NYC on Friday, Nov. 13, 1953, and although 'Friday the 13th' had indeed seemingly brought bad luck upon some of the players (just before the session Sonny Rollins was in a car accident and trumpeter Ray Copeland fell ill and had to be replaced at the last minute by the king of the French horn, Julius Watkins), the session itself was quite successful. The three tracks recorded: 'Let's Call This', 'Think of One', and 'Friday the Thirteenth', were all Monk originals being recorded here for the first time. 'Friday the Thirteenth', an amazing track, is alone worth the purchase of the album. Along with Monk, Rollins and Watkins, the quintet is filled out by the great Percy Heath and Willie Jones.

Side B, on the other hand, originally released on Prestige as prlp 190, is a quartet session led by Sonny Rollins at Van Gelder Studio on Oct. 25, 1954, and featuring Thelonious Monk, Tommy Potter and Art Taylor. For this session the quartet recorded three standards: 'I Want To Be Happy' and 'The Way You Look Tonight' and 'More Than You Know', which are all duly given the Monk / Rollins deluxe overhaul. It's kind of like your old car with a jet engine. These songs have never sounded this good before or since! An essential and historic LP!"