Johnsinclair.us - The official John Sinclair website. http://localhost/backup/poetry/76.html Tue, 16 Feb 2021 10:38:50 +0000 Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Management en-gb http://localhost/backup/poetry/76-always-know/653-thelonious-a-book-of-monk-volume-one-2.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/76-always-know/653-thelonious-a-book-of-monk-volume-one-2.html
thelonious: a book of monk--volume one

by john Sinclair


thelonious: a book of monk is an elongated serial work in verse which generally purports (with several exceptions) to fashion a poem to and for each of the recorded works of the great african-american pianist/composer thelonious monk.

the book of monk is projected to include some 150 discrete verse works written after monk's recordings, each of which is numbered in the book according to a strict chrono-discograhical scheme which follows (with very few exceptions) the exact sequence in which the individual recordings (or, in some cases, groups of recordings) were committed to recording disk or tape between 1947 and 1972.

thelonious: a book of monk is organized into four sections:

* book one: blue notes (1947-1952) * book two: prestige (1952-1955) * book three: riversides (1955-1962) * book four: columbias (1962-1972) the recording under hand presents the poet's recitations of the proem ("fly right") and the opening sequence of poems #1-20 of the book of monk. this program comprises the first half of book one--blue notes.

the composition of this volume one of the book of monk was completed in december 1985 for a private printing of volume one at the end of that year to be distributed among the poet's family & friends. a small xerox edition was printed by the poet for sale in 1986.

in 1991 several of these poems--along with others from later in the book of monk sequence--were recorded to the accompaniment of pianist ed moss for a project titled "fly right"--a monk suite, produced by ron esposito & steve gebhardt at wvxu-fm in cincinnati, ohio.

as the project progressed, the producers contracted with harvey kubernik to secure the release of "fly right" on new alliance records. the recordings were completed in august 1991, but the producers' series of queries seeking a "mechanical license" permitting use of the thelonious monk compositions to which the poems were set was met with a stone wall of indifference at the thelonious music corporation that eventually rose to the formidable height of three long years.

finally, in september of 1994, the poet decided to raise the white flag of truce for the time being and went into chez flames studio in new orleans to make this recording under the direction of keith keller. at the same time incipient new orleans publisher l.j. goldstein contracted with the poet to produce the print version of this work, which will appear in 1995 under the imprint of vchc press.


two notes: (1) in every possible instance, the poet attempts to engage proficient musical accompanists to play the appropriate monk works for the poet's performance of these verses, returning the words to the bed of music from which they arose.

in this case, however, the difficulties encountered in attempting to secure permission for use of the monk compositions in the "fly right" project precluded the use of musical accompaniment here. thus the poems are presented a capella stylee, and here they are.

(2) while the poems from the book of monk are usually presented in performance (and in print) without regard to their place in the numerical sequence, they will eventually be issued--when the work is completed--as are the works in this volume one: according to the order in which the songs which gave birth to the poems were recorded by thelonious monk himself.

the poet takes considerable pride in presenting--by means of the present recording and the printed book to follow--these modest works in sequential order, as the entire book of monk will ultimately appear. the poems were composed primarily to be heard in the ear as well as seen on the page, and, again, here they are.

for more information concerning the formal scheme and the composition of thelonious: a book of monk, the listener is invited to listen to the after word section at the end of the recitation on this disk.

further, affiant sayeth not.


--john sinclair
new orleans
december 2, 1994


(c) 1994, 2006 john Sinclair. all rights reserved.


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