SKF NOTE: My friend, Christina, brought this new Monk release to my attention. It’s such a treat. Just when I thought I had heard all of Thelonious Monk’s recorded music – a never before released studio recording emerges — and I can’t wait to buy and absorb the CD. Meanwhile, here’s a cut from the album posted on YouTube.

Newsweek / CULTURE
A LONG-LOST THELONIOUS MONK ALBUM IS FINALLY RELEASED NEARLY 60 YEARS LATER
BY ZACH SCHONFELD ON 5/18/17 AT 9:10 AM

On July 27, 1959, Thelonious Monk entered Nola Penthouse Studios on Manhattan’s 57th Street for a recording session…to record music for the soundtrack to the French film Les Liaisons Dangereuses.…supported by a band that included Art Taylor on drums and Sam Jones on bass, [Charlie Rouse on tenor sax] — he recorded new arrangements of some of his best-known compositions.

The soundtrack was never released, quickly lost to history. Monk carried on with his career, retired from public life during the 1970s and died of a stroke in 1982.

Now, 35 years after Monk’s death, two friends at small French labels are co-releasing the long-lost recordings. The story behind the soundtrack’s chance rediscovery? It’s as eccentric as the legendary musician’s hat. Full story.