The following is a list of compositions by jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk (1917–1982).
0-9
52nd Street Theme
A contrafact based loosely on rhythm changes in C, and was copyrighted by Monk under the title "Nameless" in April 1944. The tune was also called "Bip Bop" by Monk, and he claims that the tune's latter title was the origin of the genre-defining name bebop. It quickly became popular as an opening and closing tune on the clubs on 52nd Street on Manhattan where Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker played. It was first recorded by Dizzy Gillespie's sextet on February 22, 1946, under the title "52nd Street Theme". Leonard Feather claims he gave the latter title.
A
Ask Me Now
A tonally ambiguous ballad in D♭ first recorded on July 23, 1951, for the Genius of Modern Music sessions. It also appears on 5 by Monk by 5, and Solo Monk. Jon Hendricks wrote lyrics to the tune and called it "How I Wish"; it was first recorded by Carmen McRae on Carmen Sings Monk. Mark Murphy sings a version (the lyric is credited to Ben Sidran) on his album Kerouac, Then and Now.
B
Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are
A riff-based blues in B♭ first recorded on October 9, 1956, for Brilliant Corners. The title references Pannonica de Koenigswarter's troubles with her stay at the Bolivar Hotel, where her parties would disturb the management of the hotel. It also appears on the posthumous Monk album, Les Liaisons dangereuses 1960, and on Monk's Dream; on the latter release, it was retitled "Bolivar Blues" or "Blue Bolivar Blues". Live versions also appear from the albums recorded in 1964 at the It Club and the Jazz Workshop.
Bemsha Swing
A tune Monk wrote with Denzil Best and was first recorded on December 18, 1952, for the album Thelonious Monk Trio. The tune is also known as "Bimsha Swing", because the word Bemsha is a re-spelling of "Bimshire" – a colloquial nickname for Barbados, where Denzil Best's parents were born. It is a 16-bar tune with an AABA-form. The 4-bar A-section is essentially in C major but borrows tones from the parallel C minor scale, and is transposed up a fourth to create the B section of the form. The tune also appears on Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants and Brilliant Corners, featuring Max Roach with a timpani drum added to his set. This inspired Monk's son "Toot" Monk to play the drums. Live versions appear on the albums recorded in Italy, Tokyo, It Club, Jazz Workshop, and the album Misterioso (Recorded on Tour).
Bluehawk
A blues in B♭ first recorded on October 21, 1959, for Thelonious Alone in San Francisco. Monk wrote the tune after a visit from Guy Warren in 1958, the melody is borrowed from Warren's "The Talking Drum Looks Ahead" from the album Themes for African Drums. The title is a tribute to Monk's friend Coleman Hawkins, and the Black Hawk club in San Francisco.
Blue Monk
A blues in B♭ written in the studio and first recorded on September 22, 1954, for the album Thelonious Monk Trio, and is by far the tune Monk recorded the most. The melody is partly borrowed from Charlie Shavers' "Pastel Blue". Versions of the tune appear on Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk, and Monk's Blues. The tune appears on almost every single live album by Monk, including the albums from Carnegie Hall, Five Spot, Town Hall, Tokyo, Newport (1958, 1959, 1963), It Club, and at the Jazz Workshop. Abbey Lincoln wrote lyrics to the tune around 1961, and it was recorded by Jeanne Lee and Ran Blake on their album The Newest Sound Around, and by Carmen McRae as "Monkery's the Blues" on the album Carmen Sings Monk.
The tune was the opening track on the 1959 album Thelonious Alone in San Francisco, his third solo album, recorded in 1959.
Blue Sphere
Probably one of the last official known compositions by Monk recorded on November 15, 1971, for The London Collection: Volume One, released by the Black Lion label. This is the only recording of this composition. The melody is based on blues riffs that are loosely crafted, and was largely improvised. Monk demonstrated his artistry in stride piano in this recording.
Blues Five Spot
A blues in B♭ dedicated to the Five Spot Café, and appears on Misterioso, Monk's Dream, and Live at the It Club. It is also known as "Five Spot Blues".
Boo Boo's Birthday
A 21-bar tune in AAB-form. Monk recorded it only once, on December 21, 1967, for the album Underground. "Boo Boo" was the nickname of Monk's daughter, Barbara Evelyn Monk (September 3, 1953 – January 10, 1984).
Brake's Sake
A tune that was recorded only twice, and the form is different on both versions. It was first recorded by Gigi Gryce with Monk as a sideman on October 15, 1955, for Gryce's album Nica's Tempo, and the second version was recorded on February 10, 1964, for the album It's Monk's Time. Both versions have the AABA form, where the last A-section has an extended coda. The version from 1955 has 10 bars in the last A-section, while the version from 1964 has 12 bars, accordingly.
Bright Mississippi
A contrafact of "Sweet Georgia Brown" that Monk developed during the European tour in 1961, where the melody consists of staccato notes that outline the harmony. It was first recorded on November 1, 1962, for Monk's Dream. Live versions also appear from the albums recorded at the It Club and the Jazz Workshop.
Brilliant Corners
A notoriously difficult 22-bar tune in ABA-form (8-7-7 bars respectively), where the head is first played slowly and then in double-time. The choruses in the solos also follow this form. The tune was first recorded on October 15, 1956, for the album Brilliant Corners. The session ended with 25 incomplete takes, and producer Orrin Keepnews edited the final version by splicing together material from the takes. The tune was later recorded in a simplified version on November 20, 1968, for Monk's Blues with Oliver Nelson's orchestra.
Bye-Ya
A 32-bar Latin-tune in AABA-form that was originally titled "Playhouse" (as a dedication to Minton's, where Monk was the house pianist in the early 1940s with Kenny Clarke). It was originally supposed to be arranged by Gil Fuller, when Monk was the pianist in Dizzy Gillespie's big band, but wasn't recorded until October 15, 1952, for the album Thelonious Monk Trio under the name "Bye-Ya". Producer Bob Weinstock wanted to call the tune "Go", but because of the Latin influence, Weinstock asked for a Spanish translation, thus "Go" became "Vaya", and "Vaya" became "Bye-Ya". The tune was later recorded for Monk's Dream, and live versions appear on the albums recorded at Carnegie Hall, Five Spot, and Lincoln Center.
C
Children's Song
A 16-bar (AA-form) composition in E♭, derived from the traditional children's counting song "This Old Man". Monk recorded it only once, on October 7, 1964, for the album Monk.
The original stereo LP referred to the song as "That Old Man" on both the jacket and the label, but the mono LP listed the song as "That Old Man" on the jacket and "Children's Song" on the label, as have later reissues of the stereo LP. A 1984 European LP listed it as simply "Children's Song", but it has generally been known as "Children's Song (That Old Man)" since the 2002 CD issue.
Chordially
An improvised, abstract, and conceptual composition by Monk, recorded on November 15, 1971, and released as a bonus track in Black Lion's The London Collection: Volume Three.
Coming on the Hudson
A 19-bar tune in AAB-form that Monk wrote in 1958 during his stay at Pannonica de Koenigswarter's house at Weehawken, New Jersey, where the house had a good view of the Hudson River. It was first recorded on February 25, 1958, with Clark Terry, Johnny Griffin and Pepper Adams with Monk's rhythm section. This performance currently appears on Monk's Complete Riverside Recordings, though it first appeared on the 1984 rarities compilation Blues Five Spot. A live version appears on the 1958 album Thelonious in Action: Recorded at the Five Spot Cafe, and it was later recorded in studio for the album Criss-Cross.
Crepuscule with Nellie
Monk composed the tune throughout May 1957. The tune was originally titled "Twilight with Nellie", but Pannonica de Koenigswarter suggested instead to use the French word for twilight, which is crepuscule. The tune was first recorded with Monk's septet for Monk's Music; on that album (and on many of its reissues), "Crepuscule" was spelled "Crepescule" (3 e's, 1 u). The tune also appears on Les Liaisons dangereuses 1960, Criss-Cross., and on the live albums from Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, France and Italy.
Criss-Cross
"Criss-Cross" (originally titled "Sailor Cap") was one Monk's first compositions, he wrote early in 1944 as response to a collaborative project between Monk, Mary Lou Williams, and Bud Powell. It was first recorded on July 23, 1951, for the Genius of Modern Music sessions, and was later featured on the 1964 album of the same name. On the first version, the tune is in a standard 32-bar AABA-form, but in the last version, the two last bars of the B-section are dropped.
The tune inspired Gunther Schuller to compose variations on Criss-Cross, which premiered on May 17, 1960, and was later released on Jazz Abstractions, featuring Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy as soloists.
E
Epistrophy
"Epistrophy" (initially called "Fly Rite" or "Iambic pentameter") was co-written with Kenny Clarke, and was copyrighted on June 2, 1941, and was the first tune copyrighted by Monk. It is a relatively atonal 32-bar tune in ABCB-form, though the key center is C♯.
The main melodic theme was composed by Clarke, after experimenting with fingerings on the ukulele, and the chords were written by Monk. The word "epistrophe" is defined by Merriam-Webster as "the repetition of a word or expression at the end of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect".
The tune appears on almost every single live album by Monk, as it was the closing tune of each set from Monk's days at Minton's Playhouse onwards. The first recording was by Cootie Williams on April 1, 1942, and it was later recorded by Clarke's band on September 5, 1946. It was not recorded by Monk before July 2, 1948, for the Wizard of the Vibes sessions, featuring Milt Jackson. It was later recorded for Monk's Music and was an outtake from the It's Monk's Time sessions.
Eronel
A 32-bar tune in AABA form originally composed by Sadik Hakim, co-written with Idrees Sulieman. It was recorded on July 23, 1951, for the Genius of Modern Music sessions. However, Monk repeatedly changed notes and the chords to the tune and added the B-section, eventually making it "his" tune. Hakim originally wrote the tune in dedication to an old flame of Hakim, Lenore Gordon (Eronel is Lenore backwards). When the recording was released, it was only credited to Monk – Hakim and Sulieman did not receive the composer's credit until Monk's death. It later appeared on Piano Solo and on Criss-Cross.
Evidence
A new melody written over the chord progression (contrafact) of "Just You, Just Me". The title is a corruption from "Just You, Just Me" to "Just Us" to "Justice" to the final title "Evidence". The tune was first recorded on July 2, 1948, for the Wizard of the Vibes sessions, featuring Milt Jackson, later on Piano Solo, and on Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk. The melody and chord progression of the tune continued to evolve, finally gelling into a "definitive" form in later 1957, as heard on at Carnegie Hall and Thelonious in Action. Live versions appear on the albums recorded at Carnegie Hall, Five Spot, Blackhawk, Tokyo, Lincoln Center, It Club and the Jazz Workshop.
F
Four in One
A 32-bar tune in AABA-form notorious for its many 16th notes. A contrafact of "Five Foot Two", It was first recorded on July 23, 1951, for the Genius of Modern Music sessions. It later appeared on the live albums recorded at the Blackhawk and at the Lincoln Center.
Friday the 13th
A 4-bar tune built on an embellished Andalusian cadence in G. The tune was written and recorded in the studio on November 13, 1953. The tune was partly inspired by trumpeter Ray Copeland having the flu on the recording date, and horn player Julius Watkins stepped in instead. The tune was later released on the album Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins. The tune later appeared on the live album The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall.
Functional
A 12-bar blues recorded solo on April 16, 1957, for the album Thelonious Himself. The second take was released on Thelonious Himself, while the first take was later used in compiling the album Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane.