Paul Motian - Monk In Motian

One of Miles Davis’s criticisms of the jazz world (at least, of those that came after him, especially Winton Marsalis, whom he loathed) was that they were merely repeating what had been done in the past, without pushing things forward. You might well be able to play Giant Steps, but so what? John Coltrane has already done that.

Davis, of course, genius though he undoubtedly was, ignored the fact that he himself had built on others’ work – Monk’s Round Midnight for example, whilst negging whoever would come next.

However, there is a truth in this – and it encapsulates much of my issue with modern jazz (rather than Modern Jazz). Things aren’t being driven forward in any meaningful way. It feels like the golden days are over. I listen to ABC Jazz sometimes and it’s all so easy listening.

Here, we have an album which is far from easy listening. It’s an album of ten Thelonious Monk tunes, played sparsely by drums, guitar and saxophone, with occasional piano and more saxophone. It’s sounds very of its (late-eighties) time and it’s a challenging listen.

Although the players are all top-notch, including Bill Frisell and Dewey Redmond, no less, I’m not convinced they’ve brought anything particularly new or meaningful to the Monk table, which is often challenging enough in itself.

This album was given to me when it was released by a mate who was a record company rep, who was promoting the JMT catalogue.

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